Thermal comfort evaluation in an educational building with air conditioning located in the warm tropical climate of Colombia

The objective of this work is to evaluate the perception of thermal comfort that students have in building 10 of the Universidad de la Costa located in the city of Barranquilla. For the investigation the methods for the thermal comfort evaluation are analyzed, selecting the Steady-State methodology of Fanger according to the ASHRAE 55 Standard. With the application of the surveys, the thermal sensation that the students had in the building was evaluated, which was preferably fresh and thermal acceptability where 87% responded satisfactorily to indoor climate conditions in classrooms. It was also obtained that the perception of inner thermal comfort is between 21.1 ° C and 23 ° C of temperature. With the results obtained, recommendations are issued to ensure that students feel thermal comfort and the proper regulation of air conditioning systems

Energy planning for fuel oil saving in an industrial laundry

In this paper was applied a method of energy planning, compatible with ISO 50001 standard, in an industrial laundry. In the analysis, three input variables were considered: level of production, technical condition of the system and operating regime. The past, present and future of fuel oil consumption in the steam generation and use was examined, establishing the causes of deterioration of consumption indicator. A study of load and capacity in the system identified potential savings through improved operating regime. A new regime for the operation of boilers was proposed and implemented, saving 16% of fuel. With the results of these measurements, the baseline was developed and goals are established.En el presente trabajo se diseña y aplica un procedimiento de planificación energética, compatible con la norma ISO 50001, a una lavandería industrial. Se analizan tres variables de entrada: nivel de producción, estado técnico del sistema y régimen de operación. Se examina el pasado, presente y futuro del consumo del fuel oíl en el sistema de generación y uso del vapor, estableciendo las causas del deterioro del indicador de consumo. A través de un estudio de carga y capacidad en el sistema se identificaron las potencialidades de ahorro mejorando el esquema de operación. Se propuso un nuevo esquema para la operación de las calderas el cual fue implementado lográndose un ahorro del 16% de combustible. Con los resultados de las mediciones se elabora la línea base y se establecen nuevas metas

Emergent behaviour and phase transitions in spatially distributed multi-cellular metabolic networks

Overflow metabolism is a ubiquitous phenomenon whereby cells in aerobic conditions excrete byproducts of glycolysis, such as lactate or acetate, into the medium in a seemingly wasteful and polluting fashion. Whilst overflow may confer microbes a fitness advantage by allowing them to overcome a finite oxidative capacity, its occurrence in higher organisms is harder to assess. Important insight was however obtained in recent experiments conducted at single-cell resolution, which revealed that accumulation of overflow products in tumor cell cultures known as the Warburg effect arises from imbalances in the dynamic and heterogeneous inter-cellular exchange network through which cells collectively regulate the microenvironment. Here we provide a quantitative characterization of this scenario by integrating metabolic network modeling with diffusion constraints, statistical physics theory and single-cell experimental flux data. On the theoretical side, we clarify how diffusion-limited exchanges shape the space of viable metabolic states of a multi-cellular system. Specifically, a phase transition from a balanced network of exchanges to an unbalanced overflow regime occurs as the mean cellular glucose and oxygen uptakes vary while single-cell metabolic phenotypes are highly heterogeneous around this transition. We then show that time-resolved data from human tumor-stroma cell co-cultures consistently map to this crossover region, supporting the idea that environmental deterioration reflects a failure of coordination among recurrently interacting cells. In summary, our findings suggest that, rather than deriving from multiple independent cell-autonomous processes, environmental control is an emergent feature of multi-cellular systems.Comment: Main(14 pages)+ supporting information(14 pages). Comments are welcom

Evaluación de la climatización en locales comerciales, integrando técnicas de termografía, simulación y modelado por elementos finitos

This study integrates different techniques to analyze some issues of the air conditioning system of a commercial establishment. A thermographic camera is used to assess the temperature profile in the area covered by the air conditioning system and also to detect the higher temperature spots. The air conditioning system of the facility is simulated using the software Trnsys to estimate the indoor temperature and the thermal load profile. Afterward, using computer-aided design, a model of the air circulation in the thermal zone is developed, which is simulated using the finite element method to obtain the temperature profile in the area. As a result, a new operational scheme of the air conditioning that improves the temperature profile is proposed

Worldwide trends in diabetes since 1980: a pooled analysis of 751 population-based studies with 4.4 million participants

BACKGROUND: One of the global targets for non-communicable diseases is to halt, by 2025, the rise in the age-standardised adult prevalence of diabetes at its 2010 levels. We aimed to estimate worldwide trends in diabetes, how likely it is for countries to achieve the global target, and how changes in prevalence, together with population growth and ageing, are affecting the number of adults with diabetes. METHODS: We pooled data from population-based studies that had collected data on diabetes through measurement of its biomarkers. We used a Bayesian hierarchical model to estimate trends in diabetes prevalence—defined as fasting plasma glucose of 7·0 mmol/L or higher, or history of diagnosis with diabetes, or use of insulin or oral hypoglycaemic drugs—in 200 countries and territories in 21 regions, by sex and from 1980 to 2014. We also calculated the posterior probability of meeting the global diabetes target if post-2000 trends continue. FINDINGS: We used data from 751 studies including 4 372 000 adults from 146 of the 200 countries we make estimates for. Global age-standardised diabetes prevalence increased from 4·3% (95% credible interval 2·4–7·0) in 1980 to 9·0% (7·2–11·1) in 2014 in men, and from 5·0% (2·9–7·9) to 7·9% (6·4–9·7) in women. The number of adults with diabetes in the world increased from 108 million in 1980 to 422 million in 2014 (28·5% due to the rise in prevalence, 39·7% due to population growth and ageing, and 31·8% due to interaction of these two factors). Age-standardised adult diabetes prevalence in 2014 was lowest in northwestern Europe, and highest in Polynesia and Micronesia, at nearly 25%, followed by Melanesia and the Middle East and north Africa. Between 1980 and 2014 there was little change in age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adult women in continental western Europe, although crude prevalence rose because of ageing of the population. By contrast, age-standardised adult prevalence rose by 15 percentage points in men and women in Polynesia and Micronesia. In 2014, American Samoa had the highest national prevalence of diabetes (>30% in both sexes), with age-standardised adult prevalence also higher than 25% in some other islands in Polynesia and Micronesia. If post-2000 trends continue, the probability of meeting the global target of halting the rise in the prevalence of diabetes by 2025 at the 2010 level worldwide is lower than 1% for men and is 1% for women. Only nine countries for men and 29 countries for women, mostly in western Europe, have a 50% or higher probability of meeting the global target. INTERPRETATION: Since 1980, age-standardised diabetes prevalence in adults has increased, or at best remained unchanged, in every country. Together with population growth and ageing, this rise has led to a near quadrupling of the number of adults with diabetes worldwide. The burden of diabetes, both in terms of prevalence and number of adults affected, has increased faster in low-income and middle-income countries than in high-income countries. FUNDING: Wellcome Trust

Mechanisms of Taxane Resistance

The taxane family of chemotherapy drugs has been used to treat a variety of mostly epithelial-derived tumors and remain the first-line treatment for some cancers. Despite the improved survival time and reduction of tumor size observed in some patients, many have no response to the drugs or develop resistance over time. Taxane resistance is multi-faceted and involves multiple pathways in proliferation, apoptosis, metabolism, and the transport of foreign substances. In this review, we dive deeper into hypothesized resistance mechanisms from research during the last decade, with a focus on the cancer types that use taxanes as first-line treatment but frequently develop resistance to them. Furthermore, we will discuss current clinical inhibitors and those yet to be approved that target key pathways or proteins and aim to reverse resistance in combination with taxanes or individually. Lastly, we will highlight taxane response biomarkers, specific genes with monitored expression and correlated with response to taxanes, mentioning those currently being used and those that should be adopted. The future directions of taxanes involve more personalized approaches to treatment by tailoring drug–inhibitor combinations or alternatives depending on levels of resistance biomarkers. We hope that this review will identify gaps in knowledge surrounding taxane resistance that future research or clinical trials can overcome

A personalized intervention to prevent depression in primary care: cost-effectiveness study nested into a clustered randomized trial

Background: Depression is viewed as a major and increasing public health issue, as it causes high distress in the people experiencing it and considerable financial costs to society. Efforts are being made to reduce this burden by preventing depression. A critical component of this strategy is the ability to assess the individual level and profile of risk for the development of major depression. This paper presents the cost-effectiveness of a personalized intervention based on the risk of developing depression carried out in primary care, compared with usual care. Methods: Cost-effectiveness analyses are nested within a multicentre, clustered, randomized controlled trial of a personalized intervention to prevent depression. The study was carried out in 70 primary care centres from seven cities in Spain. Two general practitioners (GPs) were randomly sampled from those prepared to participate in each centre (i.e. 140 GPs), and 3326 participants consented and were eligible to participate. The intervention included the GP communicating to the patient his/her individual risk for depression and personal risk factors and the construction by both GPs and patients of a psychosocial programme tailored to prevent depression. In addition, GPs carried out measures to activate and empower the patients, who also received a leaflet about preventing depression. GPs were trained in a 10- to 15-h workshop. Costs were measured from a societal and National Health care perspective. Qualityadjustedlife years were assessed using the EuroQOL five dimensions questionnaire. The time horizon was 18 months. Results: With a willingness-to-pay threshold of (sic)10, 000 ((sic)8568) the probability of cost-effectiveness oscillated from 83% (societal perspective) to 89% (health perspective). If the threshold was increased to (sic)30, 000 ((sic)25, 704), the probability of being considered cost-effective was 94% (societal perspective) and 96%, respectively (health perspective). The sensitivity analysis confirmed these results. Conclusions: Compared with usual care, an intervention based on personal predictors of risk of depression implemented by GPs is a cost-effective strategy to prevent depression. This type of personalized intervention in primary care should be further developed and evaluated

Effects of silica addition on the chemical, mechanical and biological properties of a new α-Tricalcium Phosphate/Tricalcium Silicate Cement

The addition of tricalcium silicate (C3S) to apatite cements results in an increase of bioactivity and improvement in the mechanical properties. However, adding large amounts raises the local pH at early stages, which retards the precipitation of hydroxyapatite and produces a loss of mechanical strength. The introduction of Pozzolanic materials in cement pastes could be an effective way to reduces basicity and enhance their mechanical resistance; thus, the effect of adding silica on the chemical, mechanical and biological properties of α-tricalcium phosphate/C3S cement was studied. Adding silica produces a reduction in the early pH and a decrease in setting times; nevertheless, the presence of more calcium silicate hydrate (C-S-H) delays the growth of hydroxyapatite crystals and consequently, reduces early compressive strength. The new formulations show a good bioactivity, but higher cytotoxicity than traditional cements and additions higher than 2.5% of SiO2 cause a lack of mechanical strength and an elevated degradability