Complementary music therapy for cancer patients in at-home palliative care and their caregivers: protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial

Background Patients with advanced cancer, receiving at-home palliative care, are subject to numerous symptoms that are changeable and often require attention, a stressful situation that also impacts on the family caregiver. It has been suggested that music therapy may benefit both the patient and the caregiver. We propose a study to analyse the efficacy and cost utility of a music intervention programme, applied as complementary therapy, for cancer patients in palliative care and for their at-home caregivers, compared to usual treatment. Method A randomised, double-blind, multicentre clinical trial will be performed in cancer patients in at-home palliative care and their family caregivers. The study population will include two samples of 40 patients and two samples of 41 caregivers. Participants will be randomly assigned either to the intervention group or to the control group. The intervention group will receive a seven-day programme including music sessions, while the control group will receive seven sessions of (spoken word) therapeutic education. In this study, the primary outcome measure is the assessment of patients' symptoms, according to the Edmonton Symptom Assessment System, and of the overload experienced by family caregivers, measured by the Caregiver Strain Index. The secondary outcomes considered will be the participants' health-related quality of life, their satisfaction with the intervention, and an economic valuation. Discussion This study is expected to enhance our understanding of the efficacy and cost-utility of music therapy for cancer patients in palliative care and for their family caregivers. The results of this project are expected to be applicable and transferrable to usual clinical practice for patients in home palliative care and for their caregivers. The approach described can be incorporated as an additional therapeutic resource within comprehensive palliative care. To our knowledge, no previous high quality studies, based on a double-blind clinical trial, have been undertaken to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of music therapy. The cost-effectiveness of the project will provide information to support decision making, thereby improving the management of health resources and their use within the health system

Intervention to improve quality of sleep of palliative patient carers in the community: protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial

Background: Sleep disorders are commonly experienced by community caregivers for persons with cancer, with at least 72% reporting moderate to severe disorders. A consequence of this condition, which is associated with the presence of overload in the caregiver, is the increased risk of clinical depression. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of music on the sleep quality achieved by informal caregivers for cancer patients receiving home palliative care. In addition, we will assess the influence of specific variables that could modify these effects, analyse the correlates related to nocturnal wakefulness and consider the diurnal consequences according to the sleep characteristics identified. Methods: This single-blind, multicentre, randomised clinical trial will focus on informal providers of care for cancer patients. Two samples of 40 caregivers will be recruited. The first, intervention, group will receive seven music-based sessions. The control group will be masked with seven sessions of therapeutic education (reinforcing previous sessions). Outcomes will be evaluated using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, a triaxial accelerometer, EuroQol-5D-5L, the Caregiver Strain Index, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and the Client Satisfaction Questionnaire. The caregivers' satisfaction with the intervention performed will also be examined. Discussion: This study is expected to extend our understanding of the efficacy of music therapy in enhancing the sleep quality of caregivers for patients receiving home palliative care. To our knowledge, no reliable scientific investigations of this subject have previously been undertaken. Music is believed to benefit certain aspects of sleep, but this has yet to be proven and, according to a Cochrane review, high-quality research in this field is necessary. One of the main strengths of our study, which heightens the quality of the randomised clinical trial design, is the objective assessment of physical activity by accelerometry and the use of both objective and subjective measures of sleep in caregivers. Music therapy for the caregivers addressed in this study is complementary, readily applicable, provokes no harmful side effects and may produce significant benefits

A multicriteria ant colony algorithm for generating music playlists

In this paper we address the problem of music playlist generation based on the user-personalized specification of context information. We propose a generic semantic multicriteria ant colony algorithm capable of dealing with domain-specific problems by the use of ontologies. It also employs any associated metadata defined in the search space to feed its solution-building process and considers any restrictions the user may have specified. An example is given of the use of the algorithm for the problem of automatic generation of music playlists, some experimental results are presented and the behavior of the approach is explained in different situations. 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.This work has been partially supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under the funding project CENIT-MIOI CENIT-2008 1019 and by the Microsoft Research Labs (Cambridge) under the "Create, Play and Learn" program.Mocholi Agües, JA.; Martinez Valero, VM.; Jaén Martínez, FJ.; Catalá Bolós, A. (2012). A multicriteria ant colony algorithm for generating music playlists. Expert Systems with Applications. 39(3):2270-2278. doi:10.1016/j.eswa.2011.07.131S2270227839

Combining transverse field detectors and color filter arrays to improve multispectral imaging systems

This work focuses on the improvement of a multispectral imaging sensor based on transverse field detectors (TFDs). We aimed to achieve a higher color and spectral accuracy in the estimation of spectral reflectances from sensor responses. Such an improvement was done by combining these recently developed silicon-based sensors with color filter arrays (CFAs). Consequently, we sacrificed the filter-less full spatial resolution property of TFDs to narrow down the spectrally broad sensitivities of these sensors.We designed and performed several experiments to test the influence of different design features on the estimation quality (type of sensor, tunability, interleaved polarization, use of CFAs, type of CFAs, number of shots), some of which are exclusive to TFDs.We compared systems that use a TFD with systems that use normal monochrome sensors, both combined with multispectral CFAs as well as common RGB filters present in commercial digital color cameras. Results showed that a system that combines TFDs and CFAs performs better than systems with the same type of multispectral CFA and other sensors, or even the same TFDs combined with different kinds of filters used in common imaging systems. We propose CFA+TFD-based systems with one or two shots, depending on the possibility of using longer capturing times or not. Improved TFD systems thus emerge as an interesting possibility for multispectral acquisition, which overcomes the limited accuracy found in previous studies.Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness through the research project DPI2011-2320

Band selection pipeline for maturity stage classification in bell peppers: From full spectrum to simulated camera data

This paper describes a workflow for classifying the maturity of bell peppers using hyperspectral imaging and machine learning. The approach involves using spectral reflectance to determine the number of maturity stages, followed by a classification task using the optimal bands for accurate classification. The study explores a realistic scenario using simulated camera responses and investigates the use of real sensors with their spectral sensitivities and noise. Four classifier algorithms (RBFNN, PLS-DA, SVM, and LDA) were employed to predict the maturity stage based on spectral reflectance. The best results were achieved with the LDA algorithm, which was used in the optimization process for band selection. The optimized bands in the VISNIR range (400–1000 nm) were found to be [783.5, 844.1, and 905.4] nm, with an accuracy of 90.67% for spectral data. For camera responses with intermediate-level noise, the best bands were [760, 820, and 900 nm], achieving an accuracy of 81%. Overall, using three bands yielded satisfactory and practical results for real-world implementation.Universidad de Granada/CBU

Aspen Plus process-simulation model: Producing biogas from VOC emissions in an anaerobic bioscrubber

A process-simulation model for a novel process consisted of an anaerobic bioscrubber was developed in Aspen Plus®. A novel approach was performed to implement the anaerobic reactor in the simulation, enabling it to be connected to the scrubber. The model was calibrated and validated using data from an industrial prototype that converted air emissions polluted with volatile organic compounds with an average daily concentration of 1129 mgC Nm−3 into bioenergy for more than one year. The scrubber, which showed a removal efficiency within 83-93%, was successfully predicted with an average absolute relative error of 5.2 ± 0.08% using an average height-to-theoretical-plate value of 1.05 ± 0.08 m and 1.37 ± 0.11 m for each of the two commercial packing materials used, respectively. The anaerobic reactor, which treated up to 24 kg of chemical oxygen demand m−3 d−1 with efficiencies of about 93%, was accurately simulated, both in effluent-stream characteristics and in the biogas stream. For example, the average absolute error between the experimental biogas production and the model values was 19.6 ± 18.9%. The model proved its capability as a predictive tool and an aid in design, resulting in savings of time and money for practitioners. In addition, the approach proposed can be expanded to other bioprocesses that include unit operations

Evolution of Bacterial Community in a Full-scale Biotrickling Filter by Fluorescence in Situ Hybridization (FISH)

The performance of a full-scale biotrickling system for the treatment of exhaust gases from two different paint sources at a furniture facility, was investigated applying Fluorescense in situ hybridization (FISH). This technique allowed the detection of major bacteria groups and, therefore, helped in understanding complex microbial communities. The results indicated that Alphaproteobacteria, Betaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, and Deltaproteobacteria were more predominant than Firmicutes and Actiniobacterias. In addition, a variation in the composition of the bacterial community throughout the time of operation and with the paint source was observed. Betaproteobacteria showed similar relative abundance in all analyzed days. However, Gammaproteobacteria, relevant group in the degradation of VOCs, fluctuated with operational changes and the relative abundance of Alphaproteobacteria decreased when the composition of pollutants of the emission source was changed

Evaluación experimental de coberturas flotantes modulares en balsas de riego

Para mejorar la eficiencia global de los sistemas de riego resulta necesario mitigar las pérdidas en balsas mediante técnicas reductoras de la evaporación. Este trabajo contiene los resultados obtenidos tras el ensayo experimental como técnica mitigadora de la evaporación de dos prototipos de cobertura flotante modular, denominados EVAPOCONTROL-2 y EVAPO-CONTROL-G4. Los prototipos fueron evaluados durante sendos años en balsas agrícolas del sureste español con el fin de (1) determinar experimentalmente su eficiencia como tecnología para la reducción de la evaporación, y (2) verificar experimentalmente su efecto sobre la calidad de agua almacenada para su aplicación en riego agrícola. La cobertura EVAPO-CONTROL-G4 ha conseguido reducir la evaporación en un 77,52% durante el ensayo experimental de un año en Puerto Lumbreras, mejorando ligeramente los resultados del prototipo anterior EVAPO-CONTROL-2, que redujo la evaporación en un 76,16% al ser evaluado durante un año en una balsa experimental localizada en el Campo de Cartagena. Por tanto, este ensayo confirma que se trata de una tecnología eficiente para la reducción de la evaporación en balsas de riego, y que el nuevo prototipo mejora el comportamiento de la versión anterior. El factor de reducción de la evaporación no ha sido constante a lo largo del año, sino que ha variado desde el 70,80% en el mes de enero hasta el 81,56% en el mes de agosto. Respecto a los efectos de las coberturas EVAPO-CONTROL-2 y EVAPO-CONTROLG4 sobre la calidad del agua, la conductividad eléctrica se ha mantenido en valores muy reducidos y condicionados a la entrada de agua directa de lluvia. La concentración de clorofila-a (proxy de presencia de algas en la balsa) y el valor de turbidez también ha sido prácticamente nulos tras la instalación de la cobertura flotante, evidenciando la eficiencia de la cobertura como técnica de control de la concentración de microalgas en la balsa de riegoEn contenido de esta comunicación es fruto de las actividades desarrolladas en el marco de los contratos de investigación y desarrollo “Evaluación experimental del sistema de cobertura flotante modular EVAPO-CONTROL-2” y “Evaluación experimental del sistema de cobertura flotante modular EVAPO-CONTROL G4”, desarrollados durante los años 2018 y 2019 respectivamente por la Universidad Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena y la empresa Arana Water Management S.L

Recent advances in the interrelationship of vegetation and climate in Spain

Póster elaborado para el WCRP Open Science Conference celebrado en Denver del 24 al 28 de octubre de 201

Bone turnover markers in Spanish postmenopausal women: the Camargo cohort study

BACKGROUND. This cross-sectional study was performed to determine the reference ranges for two bone turnover markers -aminoterminal propeptide of type I collagen (P1NP) and C-terminal telopeptide of type I collagen ( - CrossLaps, -CTX)- in normal postmenopausal Spanish women as determined in serum by automated methods. METHODS. A community-based population of 1080 healthy postmenopausal women was evaluated. Data regarding risk factors for osteoporosis and fractures were collected by means of a structured questionnaire. Fasting serum levels of P1NP, -CTX, 25-Hydroxivitamin D (25OHD), and intact parathyroid hormone (iPTH) were measured on the Elecsys 2010 automated analyzer (Roche). BMD at lumbar spine, femoral neck and total hip was determined by DXA. RESULTS. The mean age of subjects was 63±9. Logarithmic transformation of both markers was performed to allow for normal distributions. Mid-95% ranges for P1NP and -CTX were 19-100 ng/ml and 0.112-1.018 ng/ml, respectively. Mean values of P1NP (47.7±19.9 ng/ml) were similar to those previously determined by the manufacturer of the assays, whereas -CTX mean values (0.387± 0.197 ng/ml) were lower. Both markers were higher among osteoporotic women. CONCLUSIONS. Values obtained from this well-characterized population study provide reference ranges for serum automated P1NP and -CTX in normal Spanish postmenopausal women