Farmacocinética, biodisponibilidad y tolerancia ocular de memantina en conejos: Aportaciones al análisis de una nueva formulación oftálmica a base de nanopartículas

La sobreactivación de los receptores NMDA del glutamato es responsable de la neurotoxicidad calcio-dependiente asociada a la pérdida de células ganglionares retinianas (CGRs), por esta razón, se está investigando el potencial terapéutico de los antagonistas de los receptores tipo NMDA, como memantina, en el tratamiento del glaucoma. El trabajo que presentamos ha pretendido logar un mejor conocimiento de la cinética ocular de memantina tras la administración periocular-subtenon posterior, trabajando en conejos como modelo experimental, analizando el comportamiento de 3 formulaciones de memantina con distintas características de viscosidad (salina, metilcelulosa y polivinilpirrolidona), y comparando la administración periocular con otras vías de administración, como la endovenosa, y la intravítrea; estudiando además, distintos aspectos relacionados con la seguridad y tolerancia ocular de memantina tras su administración intravítrea. Así mismo, se muestra el estudio inicial de una nueva formulación de memantina a base de nanopartículas de Gantrez® AN en relación con su proceso de elaboración, rendimiento de encapsulación y toxicidad ocular. Los resultados obtenidos mostraron un comportamiento cinético vítreo de memantina tras la administración periocular-subtenon posterior similar para las tres formulaciones ensayadas, caracterizado por una rápida absorción de la sustancia a vítreo y una vida media de memantina en vítreo corta. La administración periocular-subtenon de memantina mostró una baja biodisponibilidad vítrea relativa (0.54%) aunque superior a la de la vía sistémica endovenosa (0.02%). La presencia de niveles en vítreo de los ojos contralaterales tras la administración subtenon pone de manifiesto la existencia de un paso rápido de la sustancia a sangre, y da una idea de la contribución de la vía hemática en la consecución de niveles vítreos tras la administración periocular, que fue minoritaria frente a la absorción local transescleral. Tras la administración sistémica endovenosa observamos una rápida absorción vítrea de la sustancia, similar a la de la administración periocular, y una semivida de eliminación vítrea significativamente mayor que la de la administración subtenon posterior. La tasa de penetración vítrea de memantina tras la administración endovenosa fue mayor que la unidad. La administración intravítrea estuvo caracterizada por bajos volúmenes de distribución, elevadas áreas bajo la curva, y rápida caída de los niveles vítreos, con una vida media de memantina en vítreo inferior a las 2 horas. El análisis global de los resultados cinéticos obtenidos en este trabajo nos lleva a considerar un modelo cinético teórico para memantina tras administración subtenon integrado por cuatro compartimentos: espacio periocular, humor vítreo, plasma y compartimento de distribución. Las nanopartículas de Gantrez® AN formuladas presentaron un tamaño uniforme, un aspecto homogéneo y esférico, un rendimiento de encapsulación de memantina del 40% y un perfil de liberación in vitro bifásico, con una liberación inicialmente rápida seguida de una liberación sostenida durante casi 15 días. No se detectaron signos de toxicidad retiniana tras la administración intravítrea de memantina, y por su parte, la administración subtenon e intravítrea de las nanopartículas de Gantrez fue segura

Improving Motivation And Continuous Assessment In Engineering Classrooms Through Student Response Systems

The use of Student Response Systems (SRS) is highly recommended to encourage the active and meaningful learning of students in each lecture. SRS promotes the motivation of students and improves the system of continuous assessment. One of the most popular applications designed for SRS is Socrative (Socrative n.d.). The use of Socrative gives real meaning to continuous assessment, since the teacher has an easily manageable record of the evolution of their students‘learning and will help the teacher to schedule both formative and summative assessment. The application allows the detection of topics that each student may not have understood and determines the percentage of the entire class with the same difficulty. Beyond the use of Socrative as an evaluation instrument, sufficiently referenced, in this article we present different methodologies supported by SRS implemented in engineering studies at the University the Salamanca. The methodologies aim to promote autonomous work outside the classroom, and in face-to-face classes, to maintain the attention and lead the reasoning of the students to facilitate learning. The influence of the methodologies proposed by the authors on a series of indicators related to the motivation and commitment of the students to the subjects will be presented. To the best of our knowledge, most of the work on SRS have been applied to non-university educational levels and for assessment purposes and very few of them have applied SRS to undergraduate engineering studies. The novelty of this work lies in introducing new methodologies supported by SRS in university engineering studies

Influence of the type of physician on survival from emergency-medical-service-witnessed cardiac arrest: an observational study

Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest resuscitation by non-emergency dedicated physicians may not be positively associated with survival, as these physicians have less experience and exposure than specialised dedicated personnel. The aim of this study was to compare the survival results of the teams led by emergency dedicated physicians (EDPhy) with those of the teams led by non-emergency dedicated physicians (N-EDPhy) and with a team of basic life support (BLS) emergency technicians (EMTs) used as the control group. A retrospective, multicentre study of emergency-medical-servicewitnessed cardiac arrest from medical causes in adults was performed. The records from 2006 to 2016 in a database of a regional emergency system were analysed and updated up to 31 December 2021. Two groups were studied: initial shockable and non-shockable rhythms. In total, 1359 resuscitation attempts were analysed, 281 of which belonged to the shockable group, and 1077 belonged to the non-shockable rhythm group. Any onsite return of spontaneous circulation, patients admitted to the hospital alive, global survival, and survival with a cerebral performance category (CPC) of 1-2 (good and moderate cerebral performance) were studied, with both of the latter categories considered at 30 days, 1 year (primary outcome), and 5 years. The shockable and non-shockable rhythm group (and CPC 1-2) survivals at 1 year were, respectively, as follows: EDPhy, 66.7 % (63.4%) and 14.0% (12.3%); N-EDPhy, 16.0% (16.0%) and 1.96 % (1.47%); and EMTs 32.0% (29.7%) and 1.3% (0.84%). The crude ORs were EDPhy vs. N-EDPhy, 10.50 (5.67) and 8.16 (4.63) (all p < 0.05); EDPhy vs. EMTs, 4.25 (2.65) and 12.86 (7.80) (p 0.05). The presence of an EDPhy was positively related to all the survival and CPC ratesS

A Review on Non-thermal Atmospheric Plasma for Food Preservation: Mode of Action, Determinants of Effectiveness, and Applications

Non-thermal Atmospheric Plasma (NTAP) is a cutting-edge technology which has gained much attention during the last decade in the food-processing sector as a promising technology for food preservation and maintenance of food safety, with minimal impact on the quality attributes of foods, thanks to its effectiveness in microbial inactivation, including of pathogens, spoilage fungi and bacterial spores, simple design, ease of use, cost-effective operation, short treatment times, lack of toxic effects, and significant reduction of water consumption. This review article provides a general overview of the principles of operation and applications of NTAP in the agri-food sector. In particular, the numerous studies carried out in the last decade aimed at deciphering the influence of different environmental factors and processing parameters on the microbial inactivation attained are discussed. In addition, this review also considers some important studies aimed at elucidating the complex mechanism of microbial inactivation by NTAP. Finally, other potential applications of NTAP in the agri-food sector, apart from food decontamination, are briefly described, and some limitations for the immediate industrial implementation of NTAP are discussed (e.g., impact on the nutritional and sensory quality of treated foods; knowledge on the plasma components and reactive species responsible for the antimicrobial activity; possible toxicity of some of the chemical species generated; scale-up by designing fit-for-purpose equipment)

Estudio y mejora del rendimiento pedagógico en el Laboratorio de Física

Memoria ID-0162. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2013-2014

Predictors of positive (18) F-FDG PET/CT-scan for large vessel vasculitis in patients with persistent polymyalgia rheumatica

Objective: Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is often the presenting manifestation of giant cell arteritis (GCA). Fluorine-18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) scan often discloses the presence of large vessel vasculitis (LVV) in PMR patients. We aimed to identify predictive factors of a positive PET/CT scan for LVV in patients classified as having isolated PMR according to well-established criteria. Methods: A set of consecutive patients with PMR from a single hospital were assessed. All of them underwent PET/CT scan between January 2010 and February 2018 based on clinical considerations. Patients with PMR associated to other diseases, including those with cranial features of GCA, were excluded. The remaining patients were categorized in classic PMR (if fulfilled the 2012 EULAR/ACR classification criteria at disease diagnosis; n=84) or atypical PMR (who did not fulfill these criteria; n=16). Only information on patients with classic PMR was assessed. Results: The mean age of the 84 patients (51 women) with classic PMR was 71.4±9.2 years. A PET/CT scan was positive in 51(60.7%). Persistence of classic PMR symptoms was the most common reason to perform a PET/CT scan. Nevertheless, patients with positive PET/CT scan often had unusual symptoms. The best set of predictors of a positive PET/CT scan were bilateral diffuse lower limb pain (OR=8.8, 95% CI 1.7-46.3; p=0.01), pelvic girdle pain (OR=4.9, 95% CI 1.50-16.53; p=0.01) and inflammatory low back pain (OR=4.7, 95% CI 1.03-21.5; p=0.04). Conclusion: Inflammatory low back pain, pelvic girdle and diffuse lower limb pain are predictors of positive PET/CT scan for LVV in PMR

Análisis técnico y económico de sistemas de dehesas y montados (1991-1993)

Los sistemas agroforestales mediterráneos de dehesas y de montados ocupan una superficie superior a los 10 millones de hectáreas en el oeste y suroeste de la península Ibérica. La mitad de esta superficie se encuentra arbolada y la otra mitad corresponde al matorral, al pasto natural y a los cultivos extensivos desarbolados. Las dehesas y los montados mantienen una carga ganadera de más de 16 millones de ovejas equivalentes, correspondiendo dicha carga ganadera en más de un 90% a los ganados bovino y ovino extensivos.El objetivo general que quiere abordar esta investigación es cómo pueden compatibilizarse la continuidad de los aprovechamientos comerciales privados al mismo tiempo que se satisfacen las nuevas demandas del público relativas a la conservación y disfrute de los valores ambientales de los sistemas adehesados (dehesas y montados). Este objetivo genérico es investigado a través de cuatro objetivos específicos: (a) aplicación de un nuevo sistema de cuentas agroforestales; (b) descripción de la gestión productiva de cuatro subsistemas adehesados (pasto-encinar, pasto-alcornocal, pasto-alcornocal/forestal y pasto desarbolado); (c) análisis económico de los efectos del mercado y de la intervención pública en relación a la rentabilidad y la conservación de los recursos naturales de los sistemas adehesados; y (d) análisis de los efectos de la gestión productiva de los sistemas adehesados sobre una selección de sus valores ambientales de flora y fauna más característicos.La importancia superficial y la notable diversidad de los valores comerciales y ambientales de los sistemas adehesados ibéricos no les han hecho acreedores a ser objeto de investigaciones económicas continuadas, excepto los estudios puntuales realizados con anterioridad a este proyecto de tres de los investigadores participantes. El carácter pionero de esta investigación añade un interés adicional a los derivados de sus objetivos específicos.Peer reviewe

Proyecto Orla 2.0. Curso 2019 La fotografía como herramienta para la innovación docente, la investigación etnográfica, la intervención social y la creación cultural

Memoria ID-072. Ayudas de la Universidad de Salamanca para la innovación docente, curso 2018-2019

Tocilizumab in giant cell arteritis. Observational, open-label multicenter study of 134 patients in clinical practice

OBJECTIVE: Tocilizumab (TCZ) has shown efficacy in clinical trials on giant cell arteritis (GCA). Real-world data are scarce. Our objective was to assess efficacy and safety of TCZ in unselected patients with GCA in clinical practice Methods: Observational, open-label multicenter study from 40 national referral centers of GCA patients treated with TCZ due to inefficacy or adverse events of previous therapy. Outcomes variables were improvement of clinical features, acute phase reactants, glucocorticoid-sparing effect, prolonged remission and relapses. A comparative study was performed: (a) TCZ route (SC vs. IV); (b) GCA duration (?6 vs. >6 months); (c) serious infections (with or without); (d) ?15 vs. >15 mg/day at TCZ onset. RESULTS: 134 patients; mean age, 73.0 ± 8.8 years. TCZ was started after a median [IQR] time from GCA diagnosis of 13.5 [5.0-33.5] months. Ninety-eight (73.1%) patients had received immunosuppressive agents. After 1 month of TCZ 93.9% experienced clinical improvement. Reduction of CRP from 1.7 [0.4-3.2] to 0.11 [0.05-0.5] mg/dL (p < 0.0001), ESR from 33 [14.5-61] to 6 [2-12] mm/1st hour (p < 0.0001) and decrease in patients with anemia from 16.4% to 3.8% (p < 0.0001) were observed. Regardless of administration route or disease duration, clinical improvement leading to remission at 6, 12, 18, 24 months was observed in 55.5%, 70.4%, 69.2% and 90% of patients. Most relevant adverse side-effect was serious infections (10.6/100 patients-year), associated with higher doses of prednisone during the first three months of therapy. CONCLUSION: In clinical practice, TCZ yields a rapid and maintained improvement of refractory GCA. Serious infections appear to be higher than in clinical trials

Pancreatic metastases from renal cell carcinoma. Postoperative outcome after surgical treatment in a Spanish multicenter study (PANMEKID)

Background: Renal Cell Carcinoma (RCC) occasionally spreads to the pancreas. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the short and long-term results of a multicenter series in order to determine the effect of surgical treatment on the prognosis of these patients. Methods: Multicenter retrospective study of patients undergoing surgery for RCC pancreatic metastases, from January 2010 to May 2020. Variables related to the primary tumor, demographics, clinical characteristics of metastasis, location in the pancreas, type of pancreatic resection performed and data on short and long-term evolution after pancreatic resection were collected. Results: The study included 116 patients. The mean time between nephrectomy and pancreatic metastases' resection was 87.35 months (ICR: 1.51-332.55). Distal pancreatectomy was the most performed technique employed (50 %). Postoperative morbidity was observed in 60.9 % of cases (Clavien-Dindo greater than IIIa in 14 %). The median follow-up time was 43 months (13-78). Overall survival (OS) rates at 1, 3, and 5 years were 96 %, 88 %, and 83 %, respectively. The disease-free survival (DFS) rate at 1, 3, and 5 years was 73 %, 49 %, and 35 %, respectively. Significant prognostic factors of relapse were a disease free interval of less than 10 years (2.05 [1.13-3.72], p 0.02) and a history of previous extrapancreatic metastasis (2.44 [1.22-4.86], p 0.01). Conclusions: Pancreatic resection if metastatic RCC is found in the pancreas is warranted to achieve higher overall survival and disease-free survival, even if extrapancreatic metastases were previously removed. The existence of intrapancreatic multifocal compromise does not always warrant the performance of a total pancreatectomy in order to improve survival