Nous conceptes en HLA i transplantament d'òrgans

En el trasplantament d'òrgans el rebuig immunitari segueix sent el principal obstacle a superar. L'al·loreconeixement que inicia aquesta resposta immunitària està determinat majoritàriament pel reconeixement com a estranyes de les molècules HLA o MHC (complex d'histocompatibilitat principal), en ser aquestes extremadament polimòrfiques. L'al·loresposta immunitària comporta l'activació inicial dels limfòcits T i la inducció posterior d'un ventall de mecanismes efectors. Aquests mecanismes que porten al rebuig poden tenir tant una base cel·lular com humoral, i el tractament amb immunosupressors és més efectiu en el cas del rebuig cel·lular. Tanmateix, el tractament crònic amb fàrmacs immunosupressors comporta uns efectes adversos importants i, per això, s'està estudiant la possibilitat d'induir tolerància específica d'antigen, que sembla un objectiu factible en un futur. Actualment, els estudis immunitaris que es fan al laboratori avaluen el grau de compatibilitat entre donant i receptor, mitjançant la tipificació HLA de tots dos, i analitzen l'al·loresposta específica, bàsicament mitjançant la detecció d'anticossos anti-HLA específics del donant.In organ transplantation, immune rejection is still the biggest obstacle to overcome. The allorecognition that initiates the immune response is determined to a high degree by the recognition as foreign of HLA or MHC (major histocompatibility complex) molecules, the latter being highly polymorphic. The immune alloresponse entails initial T-cell activation and subsequent induction of a variety of effector mechanisms. These mechanisms, which lead to rejection, may have either a cellular or a humoral basis, where immunosuppressive treatment is more effective in the case of cellular rejection. However, chronic treatment with immunosuppressive drugs entails major adverse effects and, therefore, the possibility of inducing antigen-specific tolerance is under study and appears to be a feasible goal in the future. Currently, the immunological studies which are being carried out in the laboratory evaluate the degree of compatibility between donor and recipient through HLA typing of both, and analyse the specific alloresponse, in essence by detecting the presence of donor-specific anti-HLA antibodies

De Terme a mot comú. El paper dels diccionaris

La divulgació provoca la presència de neologismes terminològics en el discurs comú, que poden adquirir, per un procés de desterminologització, un significat diferent de l'especialitzat. Una recerca feta en el Diccionari de la llengua catalana (DIEC2) sobre termes del camp de la lingüística comparats amb els de dos diccionaris especialitzats mostra que es tracten de manera semblant; no hi queda, doncs, reflectida la distinció conceptual entre terme i mot comú.The popularisation of science leads to terminological neologisms being used in common language. These neological terms may undergo a determinologisation process and, as a consequence, acquire a new meaning which is different to the specialised one. Research into linguistic terms based on the comparison of a general language dictionary, the Dictionary of the Catalan Language (Diccionari de la llengua catalana, DIEC2), with two specialised dictionaries on linguistics was carried out. The results show that terms are treated in a similar way in both specialised and general dictionaries without reflecting the conceptual distinction between terms and common words

Aproximació a la mesura ECTS i disseny de mecanismes d’avaluació de les competències socio-profesionals a l’Enginyeria Tècnica Industrial

Aquest treball és el resultat d'una primera experiència de coordinació entre professors per a la millora de la qualitat de la docència a les enginyeries tècniques de la Universitat de les Illes Balears, com també una experiència en la valoració qualitativa i quantitativa del crèdit ECTS. El treball vol mostrar els mecanismes per quantificar el nombre d’hores reals que l’alumne ha dedicat als estudis, i contrastar-lo amb el rendiment que n’ha tret en el procés d’avaluació de totes les assignatures participants en el projecte, com també l’estimació de la càrrega que suposa per al professor. Combinat amb l’aproximació al crèdit ECTS, es mostren experiències en l’avaluació de competències socioprofessionals, sobretot per establir mecanismes objectivables per aconseguir una avaluació coherent per al professor i per a l’alumneEste trabajo es el resultado de una primera experiencia de coordinación entre profesores para la mejora de la calidad de la docencia dentro de las ingenierías técnicas de la Universitat de les Illes Balears, así como una experiencia en la valoración cualitativa y cuantitativa del crédito ECTS. El trabajo quiere mostrar los mecanismos para cuantificar el número de horas reales que el alumno ha dedicado en contraste con el rendimiento que ha obtenido a través del proceso de evaluación de todas las asignaturas participantes en el proyecto, así como la estimación de la carga que supone para el profesor. Combinado con la aproximación al crédito ECTS, se muestran experiencias en la evaluación de competencias socio-profesionales i sobretodo establecer mecanismos no subjetivos para conseguir una evaluación coherente para el profesor i para el alumno

Cerebral thromboembolism secondary to infective endocarditis in a pet rabbit

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICCentral vestibular disease is one of the most common problems in pet rabbits. Encephalitozoon cuniculi infection appears to be the most frequent etiology, but other causes have been described. It is known that infective endocarditis can cause thromboembolic disease affecting multiple organ systems in dogs. Secondary embolism from bacterial endocarditis commonly occurs, mainly in the spleen and kidneys; but cerebral thromboembolism disease secondary to infective endocarditis has rarely been reported in dogs. In this case, an 8-year-old, neutered male rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) presented with mild hyperthermia, left head tilt and rolling. Radiographic examination, complete blood count, serum biochemistry and abdominal ultrasound were unremarkable. Magnetic resonance imaging did not show any abnormalities in the central nervous system. An Encephalitozoon cuniculi serology was performed with elevated IgM and IgG titers (1:320; 1:1280 respectively), the patient was hospitalized and treated for encephalitozoonis but the rabbit died 8 days after presentation and the body was submitted for necropsy. Histopathological examination revealed multifocal necrotizing and suppurative myocarditis, with multiple emboli in kidneys, lungs and central nervous system. Polymerase chain reaction, immunohistochemistry, and Ziehl-Neelsen staining of samples from the central nervous system and kidneys yielded negative results for Encephalitozoon cuniculi. Due to the positive predictive value of 92% of indirect fluorescent antibody technique Encephalitozoon cuniculi serology, in this case a false positive was suspected. Based on the results, final diagnosis of cerebral thromboembolism secondary to infective endocarditis was emitted. This is the first report of this process naturally occurring in rabbits, and it should be included in the differential diagnosis of central vestibular syndrome in this species

Asynchronous Runtime with Distributed Manager for Task-based Programming Models

Parallel task-based programming models, like OpenMP, allow application developers to easily create a parallel version of their sequential codes. The standard OpenMP 4.0 introduced the possibility of describing a set of data dependences per task that the runtime uses to order the tasks execution. This order is calculated using shared graphs, which are updated by all threads in exclusive access using synchronization mechanisms (locks) to ensure the dependence management correctness. The contention in the access to these structures becomes critical in many-core systems because several threads may be wasting computation resources waiting their turn. This paper proposes an asynchronous management of the runtime structures, like task dependence graphs, suitable for task-based programming model runtimes. In such organization, the threads request actions to the runtime instead of doing them directly. The requests are then handled by a distributed runtime manager (DDAST) which does not require dedicated resources. Instead, the manager uses the idle threads to modify the runtime structures. The paper also presents an implementation, analysis and performance evaluation of such runtime organization. The performance results show that the proposed asynchronous organization outperforms the speedup obtained by the original runtime for different benchmarks and different many-core architectures.Comment: 2020 Parallel Computin

Aging study of plastics to be used as Radiative cooling wind-shields for night-time radiative cooling - Polypropylene as an alternative to polyethylene.

Polyethylene has widely been used in radiative cooling applications because of high transmittance values in the atmospheric window. However, it presents optical and mechanical degradation when exposed to environmental conditions and must be replaced every few months. This paper aims to find an alternative to polyethylene to be used in a unique device, the Radiative Collector and Emitter (RCE), that combines solar collection and night-time radiative cooling. The aging evolution analysis of five cheap and market available plastic films (two low density polyethylene, one high density polyethylene, one polypropylene, and one fluorinated ethylene propylene) exposed to environmental conditions was performed. FT-IR spectra and mechanical traction tests were performed before and after 90 days of exposure to the environment. Results confirm that polyethylene undergoes a degradation process both when it is covered by a glass and when it is uncovered. However, it maintains high average transmittance values in the atmospheric window. Polypropylene has average transmittance values slightly lower than polyethylene, but its aging behaviour is better since no oxidative processes are detected when the material is covered with glass. For all this, PP-35 is an interesting candidate for night-time radiative cooling wind-shields.This publication is part of the grant RTI2018-097669-A-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/ 501100011033/ and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. This publication is part of the grant PID2021- 126643OB-I00, funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/ and by “ERDF A way of making Europe”. The authors would like to thank Generalitat de Catalunya for the project grant given to their research group (2017 SGR 659)

Reference Range of Kaolin-Activated Thromboelastography (TEG) Values in Healthy Pet Rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus)

Coagulation is a protective mechanism that prevents blood loss. The prothrombin time and activated partial thromboplastin clotting time are the most used laboratory tests used to assess coagulation status in all mammals. However, these tests do not accurately reflect the in vivo coagulation process due to complex interactions between blood cells and coagulation elements. New cell-based models incorporate the role of cells to explain the formation/destruction of the blood clot through viscoelastic laboratory techniques, such as thromboelastography (TEG). Thromboelastography reference ranges have been determined for humans, dogs, cats, horses, rats, mice, and laboratory rabbits but they have not been previously defined in pet rabbits. The aim of the article is to establish the reference-range values for TEG parameters in pet rabbits. Included in this study were 24 healthy rescue pet rabbits. A TEG 5000 Thromboelastograph Hemostasis System with citrated kaolin-activated blood was used. The reference ranges obtained for reaction time (R) were 1.4-6.9 min; clot formation time (K) was 0.8-2.2 min; α-angle was 65.8-82.2 degrees; maximal amplitude (MA) was 53.7-73.5 mm; measure of clot strength/firmness (G-value) was 5796.6-13,885.9 dyn/cm 2 ; the percentage of clot lysis in 30 min (LY30%) was 0-41.5%. This study provides the reference ranges of TEG in pet rabbits. Thromboelastography (TEG) is a viscoelastic technique that allows the examination of both cellular and plasma protein clotting factors. Thromboelastography helps to investigate the underlying coagulopathy and to monitor therapeutic modalities. Although viscoelastic techniques have been used in human and veterinary medicine, reference ranges in pet rabbits are missing. The objective of this study is to establish the reference-range values of TEG parameters in healthy pet rabbits. 24 healthy pet rabbits of different breeds were included: 16 crossbreeds, four Californians, two lops, one lionhead, and one angora. Four rabbits were less than one year old and 20 were older than one year. Twelve rabbits were neutered females, 10 neutered males, and two were intact females. Health status was assessed through a physical examination, a complete blood work, and a coagulation profile. A TEG 5000 Thromboelastograph Hemostasis System was used with kaolin-activated citrated whole blood. All samples were analysed 30 min postextraction. The TEG reference ranges were reaction time (R) 1.4-6.9 min; clot formation time (K) 0.8-2.2 min; α angle 65.8-82.2 degrees; maximal amplitude (MA) 53.7-73.5 mm; measure of clot strength/firmness (G-value) 5796.6-13,885.9 dyn/cm 2 ; and percentage of clot lysis in 30 min (LY30%) 0-41.5%. This study provides the reference ranges of TEG in pet rabbits

Undifferentiated Wing Sarcoma in a Peach-Faced Lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis)

A 10-year-old peach-faced lovebird (Agapornis roseicollis) was evaluated for an ulcerated and painful mass at the location of a fracture 2 years previously. Whole body radiographs showed a humeral fracture with a presumptive neoplastic proliferation in the distal diaphysis. Right wing amputation was elected but the animal died during recovery from surgery. Histopathological examination of the amputated wing revealed an infiltrative sarcomatous neoplastic proliferation. Immunohistochemistry (IHC) was carried out to characterize the tumour using antibodies against vimentin, desmin, smooth muscle actin (SMA), S-100, ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule-1 (IBA-1), CD18, cytokeratin and epithelial membrane antigen (EMA). The mesenchymal component of the mass was immunolabelled for vimentin and SMA and sparse epithelial cells were immunopositive for cytokeratin. Very few scattered cells were immunopositive for CD18 and IBA-1. The final diagnosis was consistent with an undifferentiated sarcoma with intralesional hyperplastic epithelium. According to the location, the history of a previous fracture and the histological pattern and IHC profile, the tumour was classified as an undifferentiated sarcoma with entrapped air sac epithelium.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio