Effect of pH, temperature ,conductivity and sediment size on thorium activities along Jucar River (Spain)

[EN] A study is presented on the distribution of thorium and radium isotopes in sediments, suspended matter and water collected along Jucar river (East of Spain), using low-level alpha-spectrometry. The first aim of this work is to study the thorium and radium activity in water, sediment and suspended matter and their dependence on pH, temperature, conductivity and sediment sizes along Jucar river. The analysis of activity variation with these parameters will provide information about the dynamics of these radionuclides in rivers. The values obtained for the distribution factors between suspended matter and water (K-d) are also discussed.Sanchez, F.; Rodríguez-Álvarez, M. (1999). Effect of pH, temperature ,conductivity and sediment size on thorium activities along Jucar River (Spain). Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry. 242(3):671-681. doi:10.1007/BF02347378S6716812423M. J. Rodríguez-Alvarez, F. Sánchez, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 191 (1995) 3.M. J. Rodríguez-Alvarez, F. Sánchez, E. Navarro, Proc. 3rd Intern. Summer School, Huelva Spain,M. García-León andG. Madurga (Eds), World Scientific, Singapore, 1994, p. 549.M. J. Rodríguez-Alvarez, Medidas de Uranio, Torio y Radio en Muestras Ambientales por Espectrometría alfa. Aplicación a un Modelo Unidimensional de Transporte de Radionúclidos en el Río Júcar. PhD Thesis, Universidad de Valencia, Spain, 1998 (in Spanish).M. J. Rodríguez-Alvarez, F. Sánchez, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., to be published.M. J. Rodríguez-Alvarez, F. Sánchez, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 190 (1995) 113.Uranium Disequilibrium Series. Applications to Environmental Problems,M. Ivanovich andR. S. Harmon (Eds), Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1992.A. Martinez-Aguirre, M. García-León, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 155 (1991) 97.R. Periañez, A. Martinez-Aguirre, J. Environ. Radiact., 35 (1997) No. 3, 281.P. Beneš, P. Picat, M. Černík, J. M. Quinault, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 159 (1992) 175.P. Beneš, M. Černík, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 159 (1992) 187.N. A. Talvitie, Anal. Chem., 44 (1972) 280.R. García-Tenorio, M. García-León, M. Madurga, C. Piazza, Anal. Física B, 82 (1986) 238.L. Hallstadius, Nucl. Instrum. Meth. Phys. Res. 223 (1984) 266.G. J. Hancock, P. Martin, Appl. Radiation Isotopes, 40 (1989) 63.USEPA, Potential Health and Environmental Hazard of Uranium Mine Wastes, EPA 520/1-83-007, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, 1983.P. Beneš, Physico-chemical Forms and Migration in Continental Waters of Radium from Uranium Mining and Milling, in: Environmental Migration of Long-lived Radionuclides, IAEA, Vienna, 1982, p. 3.F. Šebesta, Environ. Sci. Technol., 15 (1981) 71.P. Beneš, Water Res., 17 (1983) 619.P. Beneš, P. Strejc, J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem., 99 (1986) 407.T. H. Sibley, C. Myttenaere, Application of Distribution Coefficients to Radiological Assesment Models, Elsevier Applied Science Publishers, 1986.J. E. Till, H. R. Meyer, Radiological Assessment. A Textbook on Environmental Dose Analysis, NUREG/CR-3332, Washington, D.C., 1983.Sedimentk d and Concentration Factors for Radionuclides in Marine Environment, IAEA Technical Report Series, No. 247, 1985

An algorithm to initialize the searchof solutions of polynomial systems

AbstractOne of the main problems dealing with iterative methods for solving polynomial systemsis the initialization of the iteration. This paper provides an algorithm to initialize the search of solutions of polynomial systems

Variaciones anuales y diarias de la concentración de polen de la atmósfera de la ciudad de Orense

En el presente trabajo« reali"" el utudlo >erobioló¡¡jc de la ciudad de Oren· se entre el l de febrero y el 30 de: se:t iernbt ~ eJe 1992, rnedinnlc un CZiptJdor vctumétrico sporc-uap tipo LANZ.ONI VPPS 20C(l, Se presenta 13 ... aria~n anual dd pok:n total y w~ nes mis abundant~ así c:onl() la \'Jriación dmria para Paace..1e y CoJtOJitO dunnle ~U!. j'ICrfO· dos de polinización principal y de polen total de mayo a julio El polen que .llc..mZ3 potccnta· jes mis cluados corresponde a Afmtr, PfalotwJ, Qw:rws. Pimu, Brt1do, Po:~ccac 'i CaSfU· 11 ea.El comportamiento intradiurno de Ctmunca y Po:Keae es similar, y sus ,-,.¡~ miximos se regisrran durante la lilrde-flocheDuring tht rnonths from February to Scptrmber 1992, V.'C CJrr~J out an :.erobiological study of the city uf Orcnse, u5ing vulumetrie LANZO~I VPPS 2000 spuoe-trnps. In lhis work wc rcl'resent the total annu31 ~·3ti:u ion of rollen, p:trl~ularly o( thc mn<J. import:tnt tax:l and likcwtse thc daily hour tu hour vari3tion o Poo.ceac and Custartt'a du ring it'o pollcn scason and the ovcrall vari:uton of polkn total mea~ureU d~u\y and fwm hour 10 hoor. The highc::M pcrtenta,ge or pollcn detccted COrrt~sponds lO AIIWS, Plataffll!, Qurrcu.s, Pmm, Btwla, l"oaceae and Cos1at1U1. l111.: diunul \·:uiation for thc concentrJLion of polleo grains of PG:l· ccac and úutanca prescntli a ¡Jatlcrn wbcrc thc: highc~ pe:tk~ .1rc obta1ncd during thc hale <~fll:rnoon

Nueva forma de entender las pruebas de condición física en relación con la salud

El objetivo de este trabajo es mostrar una nueva forma de entender la evaluación de la “condición física en relación con la salud”, para evitar la inactividad y el sedentarismo. Los antecedentes se encuentran en las baterías de test utilizadas desde 1976 hasta la actualidad. Se utiliza el concepto de salud de la OMS. Se analizan pruebas con criterios de funcionalidad, economía, validez, fiabilidad y especificidad. Se eligen las siguientes pruebas y se calculan los umbrales: UKK Walk test (P75), 6” en sprint test 20 m (P75), 19 repeticiones en Chair Stand Test(P25), 11 repeticiones Arm Curl Test (P25), -10,5 cm Back Scratch Test (P25), -17,5 cm en Chair Sit and Reach Test. Se propugna la elaboración de una batería de test universal e inclusiva y elaborar percentiles mundiales ayudados por el big dataThe aim of this research was to propose a new way of understanding health-related physical fitness assessment in order to prevent inactivity and sedentarism. The background lies in the test batteries used from 1976 to the present. WHO's health concept was used. Tests were analysed based on functionality, economy, validity, reliability and specificity criteria. The following tests were chosen and the thresholds were calculated: 1,425s in the UKK walk test (P75), 6s in the 20-m sprint test (P75), 19 repetitions in the chair stand test (P25), 11 repetitions in the arm curl test (P25), -10.5cm in the back scratch test (P25), -17.5cm in the chair sit-and-reach test (P25). It was proposed that a universal and inclusive test battery be developed and the percentiles for the world population are determined with the help of big dat

Simulation Study for Designing a Dedicated Cardiac TOF-PET System

[EN] The development of dedicated positron emission tomography scanners is an active area of research, especially aiming at the improvement of lesion detection and in support of cancer treatment and management. Recently, dedicated Positron Emission Tomography (PET) systems with different configurations for specific organs have been developed for improving detection effectiveness. Open geometries are always subject to distortion and artifacts in the reconstructed images. Therefore, the aim of this work is to determine the optimal geometry for a novel cardiac PET system that will be developed by our team, and determine the time resolution needed to achieve reasonable image quality for the chosen geometry. The proposed geometries consist of 36 modules. These modules are arranged in two sets of two plates, each one with different configurations. We performed Monte Carlo simulations with different TOF resolutions, in order to test the image quality improvement in each case. Our results show, as expected, that increasing TOF resolution reduces distortion and artifact effects. We can conclude that a TOF resolution of the order of 200 ps is needed to reduce the artifacts, to acceptable levels, generated in the simulated cardiac-PET open geometries.This project has been co-financed by the Spanish Government Grants TEC2016-79884-C2 and RTC-2016-5186-1, by the European Union through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program (Grant Agreement No. 695536). The work of V.I. was supported by the Generalitat Valenciana APOSTD/2019/086 fellowship.Oliver-Gil, S.; Moliner, L.; Ilisie, V.; Benlloch Baviera, JM.; Rodríguez-Álvarez, M. (2020). Simulation Study for Designing a Dedicated Cardiac TOF-PET System. Sensors. 20(5):1-16. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20051311S116205Gaemperli, O., & Kaufmann, P. A. (2011). PET and PET/CT in cardiovascular disease. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1228(1), 109-136. doi:10.1111/j.1749-6632.2011.06030.xThackeray, J. T., & Bengel, F. M. (2018). Molecular Imaging of Myocardial Inflammation With Positron Emission Tomography Post-Ischemia. JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, 11(9), 1340-1355. doi:10.1016/j.jcmg.2018.05.026Li, Z., Gupte, A. A., Zhang, A., & Hamilton, D. J. (2017). Pet Imaging and its Application in Cardiovascular Diseases. Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal, 13(1), 29. doi:10.14797/mdcj-13-1-29Juárez-Orozco, L. E., Tio, R. A., Alexanderson, E., Dweck, M., Vliegenthart, R., El Moumni, M., … Slart, R. H. J. A. (2017). Quantitative myocardial perfusion evaluation with positron emission tomography and the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with coronary artery disease: a systematic review of prognostic studies. European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging, 19(10), 1179-1187. doi:10.1093/ehjci/jex331Schelbert, H. R. (2009). Quantification of Myocardial Blood Flow: What is the Clinical Role? Cardiology Clinics, 27(2), 277-289. doi:10.1016/j.ccl.2008.12.009Knuuti, J., Kajander, S., Mäki, M., & Ukkonen, H. (2009). Quantification of myocardial blood flow will reform the detection of CAD. Journal of Nuclear Cardiology, 16(4), 497-506. doi:10.1007/s12350-009-9101-1Peng, H. (2015). Design study of a cardiac-dedicated PET system. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 779, 39-46. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2015.01.042Gonzalez, A. J., Sanchez, F., & Benlloch, J. M. (2018). Organ-Dedicated Molecular Imaging Systems. IEEE Transactions on Radiation and Plasma Medical Sciences, 2(5), 388-403. doi:10.1109/trpms.2018.2846745Moliner, L., Rodríguez-Alvarez, M. J., Catret, J. V., González, A., Ilisie, V., & Benlloch, J. M. (2019). NEMA Performance Evaluation of CareMiBrain dedicated brain PET and Comparison with the whole-body and dedicated brain PET systems. Scientific Reports, 9(1). doi:10.1038/s41598-019-51898-zAhmed, A. M., Tashima, H., Yoshida, E., Nishikido, F., & Yamaya, T. (2017). Simulation study comparing the helmet-chin PET with a cylindrical PET of the same number of detectors. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 62(11), 4541-4550. doi:10.1088/1361-6560/aa685cCho, Z.-H., Son, Y.-D., Kim, H.-K., Kwon, D.-H., Joo, Y.-H., Ra, J. B., … Kim, Y.-B. (2019). Development of Positron Emission Tomography With Wobbling and Zooming for High Sensitivity and High-Resolution Molecular Imaging. IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, 38(12), 2875-2882. doi:10.1109/tmi.2019.2916326Surti, S., & Karp, J. S. (2008). Design considerations for a limited angle, dedicated breast, TOF PET scanner. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 53(11), 2911-2921. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/53/11/010Surti, S., & Karp, J. S. (2016). Advances in time-of-flight PET. Physica Medica, 32(1), 12-22. doi:10.1016/j.ejmp.2015.12.007Grant, A. M., Deller, T. W., Khalighi, M. M., Maramraju, S. H., Delso, G., & Levin, C. S. (2016). NEMA NU 2-2012 performance studies for the SiPM-based ToF-PET component of the GE SIGNA PET/MR system. Medical Physics, 43(5), 2334-2343. doi:10.1118/1.4945416Van Sluis, J., de Jong, J., Schaar, J., Noordzij, W., van Snick, P., Dierckx, R., … Boellaard, R. (2019). Performance Characteristics of the Digital Biograph Vision PET/CT System. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 60(7), 1031-1036. doi:10.2967/jnumed.118.215418Ito, M., Lee, M. S., & Lee, J. S. (2013). Continuous depth-of-interaction measurement in a single-layer pixelated crystal array using a single-ended readout. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 58(5), 1269-1282. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/58/5/1269Bugalho, R., Di Francesco, A., Ferramacho, L., Leong, C., Niknejad, T., Oliveira, L., … Varela, J. (2018). Experimental results with TOFPET2 ASIC for time-of-flight applications. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 912, 195-198. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2017.11.034Gundacker, S., Auffray, E., Frisch, B., Jarron, P., Knapitsch, A., Meyer, T., … Lecoq, P. (2013). Time of flight positron emission tomography towards 100ps resolution with L(Y)SO: an experimental and theoretical analysis. Journal of Instrumentation, 8(07), P07014-P07014. doi:10.1088/1748-0221/8/07/p07014A Code System for Monte Carlo Simulation of Electron and Photon Transporthttp://www.oecd-nea.org/lists/penelope.htmlStrydhorst, J., & Buvat, I. (2016). Redesign of the GATE PET coincidence sorter. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 61(18), N522-N531. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/61/18/n522Baró, J., Sempau, J., Fernández-Varea, J. M., & Salvat, F. (1995). PENELOPE: An algorithm for Monte Carlo simulation of the penetration and energy loss of electrons and positrons in matter. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 100(1), 31-46. doi:10.1016/0168-583x(95)00349-5Sempau, J., Acosta, E., Baro, J., Fernández-Varea, J. M., & Salvat, F. (1997). An algorithm for Monte Carlo simulation of coupled electron-photon transport. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 132(3), 377-390. doi:10.1016/s0168-583x(97)00414-xSempau, J., Fernández-Varea, J. M., Acosta, E., & Salvat, F. (2003). Experimental benchmarks of the Monte Carlo code penelope. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section B: Beam Interactions with Materials and Atoms, 207(2), 107-123. doi:10.1016/s0168-583x(03)00453-1Reader, A. J., Ally, S., Bakatselos, F., Manavaki, R., Walledge, R. J., Jeavons, A. P., … Zweit, J. (2002). One-pass list-mode EM algorithm for high-resolution 3-D PET image reconstruction into large arrays. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 49(3), 693-699. doi:10.1109/tns.2002.1039550Spanoudaki, V. C., & Levin, C. S. (2010). Photo-Detectors for Time of Flight Positron Emission Tomography (ToF-PET). Sensors, 10(11), 10484-10505. doi:10.3390/s101110484Siddon, R. L. (1985). Fast calculation of the exact radiological path for a three-dimensional CT array. Medical Physics, 12(2), 252-255. doi:10.1118/1.595715Vandenberghe, S., Daube-Witherspoon, M. E., Lewitt, R. M., & Karp, J. S. (2006). Fast reconstruction of 3D time-of-flight PET data by axial rebinning and transverse mashing. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 51(6), 1603-1621. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/51/6/017Performance Measurements of Positron Emission Tomographshttps://www.nema.org/Standards/ComplimentaryDocuments/Contents%20and%20Scope%20NEMA%20NU%202%202012.pdfYu, W., & Zeng, L. (2014). A Novel Weighted Total Difference Based Image Reconstruction Algorithm for Few-View Computed Tomography. PLoS ONE, 9(10), e109345. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0109345Tashima, H., Yamaya, T., Yoshida, E., Kinouchi, S., Watanabe, M., & Tanaka, E. (2012). A single-ring OpenPET enabling PET imaging during radiotherapy. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 57(14), 4705-4718. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/57/14/4705Yamaya, T., Inaniwa, T., Minohara, S., Yoshida, E., Inadama, N., Nishikido, F., … Murayama, H. (2008). A proposal of an open PET geometry. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 53(3), 757-773. doi:10.1088/0031-9155/53/3/015Miyake, K. K., Matsumoto, K., Inoue, M., Nakamoto, Y., Kanao, S., Oishi, T., … Togashi, K. (2014). Performance Evaluation of a New Dedicated Breast PET Scanner Using NEMA NU4-2008 Standards. Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 55(7), 1198-1203. doi:10.2967/jnumed.113.131565Yamamoto, S., Honda, M., Oohashi, T., Shimizu, K., & Senda, M. (2011). Development of a Brain PET System, PET-Hat: A Wearable PET System for Brain Research. IEEE Transactions on Nuclear Science, 58(3), 668-673. doi:10.1109/tns.2011.2105502Garibaldi, F., Capuani, S., Colilli, S., Cosentino, L., Cusanno, F., Leo, R. D., … Tamma, C. (2013). TOPEM: A PET-TOF endorectal probe, compatible with MRI for diagnosis and follow up of prostate cancer. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 702, 13-15. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2012.09.020González-Montoro, A., Sánchez, F., Martí, R., Hernández, L., Aguilar, A., Barberá, J., … González, A. J. (2018). Detector block performance based on a monolithic LYSO crystal using a novel signal multiplexing method. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment, 912, 372-377. doi:10.1016/j.nima.2017.10.09

New insights on the seismogenic potential of the Eastern Betic Shear Zone (SE Iberia): Quaternary activity and paleoseismicity of the SW segment of the Carrascoy Fault Zone

The Carrascoy Fault (CAF) is one of the main active faults that form part of the Eastern Betic Shear Zone, a 450 km fault system that accommodates most of the convergence between the Eurasian (Iberia) and Nubian plates in the Betic Cordillera, south Spain. Although the CAF represents a major earthquake threat to the nearby City of Murcia, studies on its Quaternary tectonics and seismogenic potential are scarce to date. We present evidence that supports the division of the CAF into two overlapping segments with contrasting tectonic structure, Quaternary activity, and landform control: a SW segment, characterized by a broad fold-and-thrust zone similar to the forebergs defined in the Gobi-Altai region, and a NE segment, characterized by a sharp mountain front controlled by strike-slip tectonics. We attribute the differentiation into these two segments to the stresses associated with topography, which in turn is a consequence of the shortening component, at the middle Pleistocene, after circa 217.4 ka. For the SW segment we infer the occurrence of 9 to 11, Mw 6.7 paleoearthquakes in the last 30.2 kyr, and a slip rate of 0.37 ± 0.08 m/kyr. We date the occurrence of the last surface rupture event after 2750 B.P., and we estimate an average recurrence period of major events of 3.3 ± 0.7 kyrThis work was supported by SISMOGEN (IGME, 2279) and FASEGEO (CGL2009-09726) research projects and a technical assistance of the Civil Protection Service of Murci

An approach for identifyation of areas with higher expected damage and definition of priority levels for prevention plans in Murcia Province (SE Spain)

The Murcia Region is one of the most active zones in Spain, where three earthquakes took place in 1999, 2002 and 2005. In spite of their low magnitudes (Mw 4.8), these earthquakes caused important damage, the last one reaching an EMS-98 intensity of VII. After that event, the RISMUR project started, aimed at providing a general picture of the seismic risk, which allows us to identify zones requiring a more detailed analysis of where prevention plans should be prioritized. A multidisciplinary study, starting with the seismic hazard assessment, which follows the Probabilistic Seismic Hazard Assessment methodology has been carried out at a regional scale. The expected ground motion (rock sites), for a return period of 475 years, has been characterized in terms of PGA and spectral ordinates and the corresponding maps have been drawn. In addition, a regional geotechnical study has been done and a classification of eight types of soils has been proposed, with the corresponding amplification factors. The combination of previous maps and factors, gives a new hazard map which already includes local effects. In parallel, a vulnerability assessment of the Murcian building stock is carried out, based fundamentally on the age of construction and following the EMS-98 criteria. Taking into account the expected ground motions and building vulnerabilities, the distribution of expected damage is estimated by the application of probability damage matrixes. A suite of maps representing seismic risk in terms of damage parameters for the entire region and from which we can identify the locations with higher expected damage have been obtained. We use the Coulomb stress transfer map of the region as additional criteria for defining priority areas where detailed studies should be performed. This gives information about the zones with stress load due to the previous seismicity and where new events could be triggered. The superposition of this map with the active faults of the region and the locations with higher expected damage allows us to establish a four-level priority ranking where future local-scale analyses should be made

Sulfadiazine, sulfamethazine and sulfachloropyridazine removal using three different porous materials: Pine bark, “oak ash” and mussel shell

This work focuses on studying the efficacy of three different by-products to adsorb three antibiotics (sulfadiazine, SDZ; sulfamethazine, SMT; sulfachloropyridazine, SCP). These antibiotics can be considered pollutants of the environment when they reach water, as well as in cases where they are spread on soils through irrigation or contained in sewage sludge or livestock manure. In this study, batch-type adsorption/desorption experiments were performed for each of the three sulfonamides, adding 7 different concentrations of the antibiotics, going from 1 to 50 μmol L−1, and with contact time of 24 h. The results indicate that pine bark is the most efficient bioadsorbent among those studied, as it adsorbs up to 95% of the antibiotics added, while desorption is always less than 11%. However, for “oak ash” and mussel shell the adsorption is always lower than 45 and 15%, respectively, and desorption is high, reaching up to 49% from “oak ash” and up to 81% from mussel shell. Adsorption data showed good fitting to the Linear and Freundlich models, with R2 values between 0.98 and 1.00 in both cases. Kd and KF adsorption parameters showed similar values for the same sorbent materials but were much higher for pine bark than for the other two bioadsorbents. The Freundlich's n parameter showed values in the range 0.81–1.28. The highest KF values (and therefore the highest adsorption capacities) were obtained for the antibiotic SCP in pine bark. Pine bark showed the highest capacity to adsorb each of the antibiotics, increasing as a function of the concentration added. When the concentration of sulfonamide added was 50 μM, the amounts adsorbed were 780 μmol kg−1 for SDZ, 890 μmol kg−1 for SMT, and 870 μmol kg−1 for SCP. “Oak ash” and mussel shell have low adsorption capacity for all three sulfonamides, showing values always lower than 150 μmol kg−1 (oak ash) and 20 μmol kg−1 (mussel shell) when a concentration of 50 μmol L−1 of antibiotic is added. The results of this study could aid to make an appropriate management of the by-products studied, in order to facilitate their valorization and recycling in the treatment of environmental compartments polluted with sulfonamide antibiotics.Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018-099574-B-C21Agencia Estatal de Investigación | Ref. RTI2018-099574-B-C2

Magnetic resonance brain images algorithm to identify demyelinating and ischemic diseases

[EN] Brain demyelination lesions occur due to damage of the myelin layer of nerve fibers, this deterioration is the cause of pathologies such as multiple sclerosis, leukodystrophy, encephalomyelitis. Brain ischemia is the interruption of the blood supply to the brain, and the flow of oxygen and nutrients needed to maintain the correct functioning of brain cells. This project presents the results of an algorithm processing images with the the main objective of identify and differentiate between demyelination and ischemic brain diseases through the automatic detection, classification and identification of their features found in the magnetic resonance images. The sequences of images used were T1, T2, and FLAIR and with a dataset of 300 patients with and without these or other pathologies, respectively. The algorithm in this stage uses Discrete Wavelet Transform (DWT), principal component analysis (PCA) and a kernel support vector machine (SVM). The algorithm developed indicates a 75% of accuracy, for that reason, with an effective validation could be applied for the fast diagnosis and contribute to an effective treatment of these brain diseases especially in the rural places.Castillo-Malla, DP.; Samaniego, R.; Jimenez, Y.; Cuenca, L.; Vivanco, O.; Rodríguez-Álvarez, M. (2018). Magnetic resonance brain images algorithm to identify demyelinating and ischemic diseases. Proceedings of SPIE. 10752:1-6. https://doi.org/10.1117/12.2322048S161075

Diversity and abundance of planktonic communities in the deep waters off the galician coast (NW Spain)

Comunicación oralPlanktonic communities play pivotal roles within marine ecosystems, affecting their structure, functioning and services. Although they have been extensively studied in the epipelagic ocean, the knowledge about these communities in the dark ocean is rather short. In this study, we explored patterns of abundance and biomass of a wide variety of taxonomic groups from the prokaryotes to mesozooplankton in the epi-, meso- and bathypelagic waters off the Galician coast. As expected, ciliate and zooplankton abundances are depleted in the bathypelagic waters relative to abundances of prokaryotes and nanoflagellates. The rate of decrease of zooplankton biomass with depth is twice as that of prokaryotes and nanoflagellates, indicating that relative contribution of mesozooplancton to the total plankton biomass decreases with depth. Overall, the diversity of prokaryotes in the dark ocean is almost as high as in the epipelagic layer, although the phylotypes are different. The major fraction of epipelagic ciliates belongs to alloricate genera, whereas tintinnids dominate the deep ciliate populations. Small copepods were dominant in the epi- and meso-pelagic zone. By contrast, foraminiferans, big copepods and myctophic fishes were more abundant in the deep ocean