Prediction of stress levels in the workplace using surrounding stress

Occupational stress has a significant adverse effect on workers’ well-being, productivity, and performance and is becoming a major concern for both individual companies and the overall economy. To reduce negative consequences, early detection of stress is a key factor. In response several stress prediction methods have been proposed, whose primary aim is to analyse physiological and behavioural data. However, evidence suggests that solutions based on physiological and behavioural data alone might be challenging when implemented in real-world settings. These solutions are sensitive to data problems arising from losses in signal quality or alterations in body responses, which are common in everyday activities. The contagious nature of stress and its sensitivity to the surroundings can be used to improve these methods. In this study, we sought to investigate automatic stress prediction using both surrounding stress data, which we define as close colleagues’ stress levels and the stress level history of the individuals. We introduce a real-life, unconstrained study conducted with 30 workers monitored over 8 weeks. Furthermore, we propose a method to investigate the effect of stress levels of close colleagues on the prediction of an individual’s stress levels. Our method is also validated on an external, independent dataset. Our results show that surrounding stress can be used to improve stress prediction in the workplace, where we achieve 80% of F-score in predicting individuals’ stress levels from the surrounding stress data in a multiclass stress classification

Incidents control in radiotherapy oncology

Primer pla de l'escut del monarca del s. XVI, conservat i ubicat a la porta de la UB. Mesura 1,60 x 2,20 metre si és de pedra sorrenca

Thermal conductivity measurements of macroscopic frozen salt ice analogues of Jovian icy moons in support of the planned JUICE mission

14 páginas, 16 figuras, 2 tablascThe study of thermal properties of frozen salt solutions representative of ice layers in Jovian moons is crucial to support the JUpiter ICy moons Explorer (JUICE) (ESA) and Europa Clipper (NASA) missions, which will be launched in the upcoming years to make detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and three of its largest moons (Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto), due to the scarcity of experimental measurements. Therefore, we have conducted a set of experiments to measure and study the thermal conductivity of macroscopic frozen salt solutions of particular interest in these regions, including sodium chloride (NaCl), magnesium sulphate (MgSO4 ), sodium sulphate (Na2 SO4 ), and magnesium chloride (MgCl2 ). Measurements were performed at atmospheric pressure and temperatures from 0 to −70 ◦C in a climatic chamber. Temperature and calorimetry were measured during the course of the experiments. An interesting side effect of these measurements is that they served to spot phase changes in the frozen salt solutions, even for very low salt concentrations. A small sample of the liquid salt-water solution was set aside for the calorimetry measurements. These experiments and the measurements of thermal conductivity and calorimetry will be valuable to constrain the chemical composition, physical state, and temperature of the icy crusts of Ganymede, Europa, and Callisto.This project received financial support of The European Space Agency (ESA) contracts No.: RFP/3-15589/18/ES/CM and 4000126441/19/ES/CM: ‘Measurements of thermal and dielectric properties of ices in support to future radar measurements of Jovian Icy moons’, The Unidad de Excelencia ‘Mar ́ıa de Maeztu’ MDM-2017-0737– Centro de Astrobiolog ́ıa (INTA-CSIC), The Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities AYA2017-85322-R and PID2020-118974GB-C21 (AEI/FEDER, UE), Retos Investigaci ́on BIA2016-77992-R (AEI/FEDER, UE), and ‘Explora Ciencia y Explora Tecnolog ́ıa’ [AYA2017-91062- EXP]. We are grateful to Anezina Solomonidou for assistance in the project proposal. The view expressed in this article can in no way be taken to reflect the official opinion of the European Space Agency. We thank the reviewer of this article for his constructive comments.Peer reviewe

A first approach to assess the impact of bottom trawling over Vulnerable Marine Ecosystems on the High Seas of the Southwest Atlantic

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Variation in structure and properties of poly(glycerol adipate) via control of chain branching during enzymatic synthesis

Poly (glycerol adipate) (PGA) can be produced from divinyl adipate and unprotected glycerol by an enzymatic route to generate a polymer with relatively low molar mass (12 kDa). PGA bears a pendant hydroxyl group which imparts a hydrophilic character to this water insoluble polymer. We have examined the effect of synthesis temperature on polymer characteristics through various techniques including FT-IR, 1H and 13C NMR, surface and thermal analysis, both to expand the data already present in the literature about this material and to understand better its properties for potential pharmaceutical applications. The use of a lipase (Novozym 435) as a catalyst suppresses cross-linking at the pendant glyceryl hydroxyl through steric hindrance at the active site, thus producing polymers with low degrees of branching (5–30%), and removes the need for any pre- or post-polymerization protection/deprotection reactions. Careful temperature control during synthesis can give polymers with reproducible molecular weights and reduced amounts of polymer branching compared to synthesis at higher temperatures. Due to the ability of the synthetic route to produce a range of structures, PGA generated by enzymatic routes may emerge as a useful biodegradable polymer platform to engineer solid dispersions or nanoparticles for healthcare applications

Associated factors to serious infections in a large cohort of juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus from Lupus Registry (RELESSER).

Objective: To assess the incidence of serious infection (SI) and associated factors in a large juvenile-onset systemic lupus erythematosus (jSLE) retrospective cohort. Methods: All patients in the Spanish Rheumatology Society Lupus Registry (RELESSER) who meet =4 ACR-97 SLE criteria and disease onset <18 years old (jSLE), were retrospectively investigated for SI (defined as either the need for hospitalization with antibacterial therapy for a potentially fatal infection or death caused by the infection). Standardized SI rate was calculated per 100 patient years. Patients with and without SI were compared. Bivariate and multivariate logistic and Cox regression models were built to calculate associated factors to SI and relative risks. Results: A total of 353 jSLE patients were included: 88.7% female, 14.3 years (± 2.9) of age at diagnosis, 16.0 years (± 9.3) of disease duration and 31.5 years (±10.5) at end of follow-up. A total of 104 (29.5%) patients suffered 205 SI (1, 55.8%; 2-5, 38.4%; and =6, 5.8%). Incidence rate was 3.7 (95%CI: 3.2–4.2) SI per 100 patient years. Respiratory location and bacterial infections were the most frequent. Higher number of SLE classification criteria, SLICC/ACR DI score and immunosuppressants use were associated to the presence of SI. Associated factors to shorter time to first infection were higher number of SLE criteria, splenectomy and immunosuppressants use. Conclusions: The risk of SI in jSLE patients is significant and higher than aSLE. It is associated to higher number of SLE criteria, damage accrual, some immunosuppressants and splenectomy

p21 as a Transcriptional Co-Repressor of S-Phase and Mitotic Control Genes

It has been previously described that p21 functions not only as a CDK inhibitor but also as a transcriptional co-repressor in some systems. To investigate the roles of p21 in transcriptional control, we studied the gene expression changes in two human cell systems. Using a human leukemia cell line (K562) with inducible p21 expression and human primary keratinocytes with adenoviral-mediated p21 expression, we carried out microarray-based gene expression profiling. We found that p21 rapidly and strongly repressed the mRNA levels of a number of genes involved in cell cycle and mitosis. One of the most strongly down-regulated genes was CCNE2 (cyclin E2 gene). Mutational analysis in K562 cells showed that the N-terminal region of p21 is required for repression of gene expression of CCNE2 and other genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays indicated that p21 was bound to human CCNE2 and other p21-repressed genes gene in the vicinity of the transcription start site. Moreover, p21 repressed human CCNE2 promoter-luciferase constructs in K562 cells. Bioinformatic analysis revealed that the CDE motif is present in most of the promoters of the p21-regulated genes. Altogether, the results suggest that p21 exerts a repressive effect on a relevant number of genes controlling S phase and mitosis. Thus, p21 activity as inhibitor of cell cycle progression would be mediated not only by the inhibition of CDKs but also by the transcriptional down-regulation of key genes

Unveiling the environment and faint features of the isolated galaxy CIG 96 with deep optical and HI observations

Asymmetries in HI in galaxies are often caused by the interaction with close companions, making isolated galaxies an ideal framework to study secular evolution. The AMIGA project has demonstrated that isolated galaxies show the lowest level of asymmetry in their HI integrated profiles, yet some present significant asymmetries. CIG 96 (NGC 864) is a representative case reaching a 16% level. Our aim is to investigate the HI asymmetries of this spiral galaxy and what processes have triggered the star-forming regions observed in the XUV pseudoring. We performed deep optical observations at CAHA 1.23m, 2.2m and VST telescopes. We reach surface brightness (SB) limits of mu_2.2m = 27.5 mag arcsec-2 (Cous R) and mu_VST = 28.7mag arcsec-2 (r) that show the XUV pseudoring of the galaxy in detail. Additionally, a wavelet filtering of the HI data cube from our deep observations with E/VLA telescope allowed us to reach a column density of N_HI = 8.9x10^18 cm -2 (5sigma) (28"x28" beam), lower than in any isolated galaxy. We confirm that the HI extends farther than 4xr_25 in all directions. Furthermore, we detect for the first time two gaseous structures (10^6 Msol) in the outskirts. The g-r colour index image from 1.23m shows extremely blue colours in certain regions of the pseudoring where N_HI>8.5x10^20 cm-2 , whereas the rest show red colours. Galactic cirrus contaminate the field, setting an unavoidable detection limit at 28.5mag arcsec-2 (r). We detect no stellar link within 1degx1deg or gaseous link within 40'x40' between CIG 96 and any companion. The isolation criteria rule out interactions with other similar-sized galaxies for at least 2.7Gyr. Using existing stellar evolution models, the age of the pseudoring is estimated at 1Gyr or older. Undetected previously accreted companions and cold gas accretion remain as the main hypothesis to explain the optical pseudoring and HI features of CIG 96.Comment: 23 pages, 18 figures, 4 table

Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality. Methods: Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015. Patients were stratified into three age groups:<65 years, 65 to 80 years, and = 80 years.The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was calculated to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the CCI to predict mortality risk. Results: A total of 3120 patients with IE (1327 < 65 years;1291 65-80 years;502 = 80 years) were enrolled.Fever and heart failure were the most common presentations of IE, with no differences among age groups.Patients =80 years who underwent surgery were significantly lower compared with other age groups (14.3%, 65 years; 20.5%, 65-79 years; 31.3%, =80 years). In-hospital mortality was lower in the <65-year group (20.3%, <65 years;30.1%, 65-79 years;34.7%, =80 years;p < 0.001) as well as 1-year mortality (3.2%, <65 years; 5.5%, 65-80 years;7.6%, =80 years; p = 0.003).Independent predictors of mortality were age = 80 years (hazard ratio [HR]:2.78;95% confidence interval [CI]:2.32–3.34), CCI = 3 (HR:1.62; 95% CI:1.39–1.88), and non-performed surgery (HR:1.64;95% CI:11.16–1.58).When the three age groups were compared, the AUROC curve for CCI was significantly larger for patients aged <65 years(p < 0.001) for both in-hospital and 1-year mortality. Conclusion: There were no differences in the clinical presentation of IE between the groups. Age = 80 years, high comorbidity (measured by CCI), and non-performance of surgery were independent predictors of mortality in patients with IE.CCI could help to identify those patients with IE and surgical indication who present a lower risk of in-hospital and 1-year mortality after surgery, especially in the <65-year group

Integración y ensayos de los paneles solares de vuelo para la misión satelital Aquarius/SAC-D

Se desarrollaron los paneles solares para la misión satelital Aquarius/SAC-D en el marco de un contrato de asistencia tecnológica entre la Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica (CNEA) y la Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE). El modelo de vuelo consta de 2 paneles solares, de 2338 mm × 2154 mm cada uno, y fue integrado utilizando celdas solares de triple juntura provistas por Emcore, utilizando procedimientos previamente calificados. Los paneles cuentan, además, con doce sensores de posición diseñados y elaborados en la CNEA. El contenedor para el transporte de los paneles fue también desarrollado en la CNEA. Los paneles solares pasaron exitosamente los ensayos ambientales de aceptación realizados recientemente en el Laboratório de Integração e Testes (LIT) del Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), en Brasil.Fil: Alurralde, M.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Barrera, Marcela Patricia. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Bolzi, Claudio Gustavo. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Bruno, C. J.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Cabot, P.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Carella, E.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Di Santo, J.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Durán, J. C.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Fernández Vázquez, J.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Filevich, Alberto. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: E.M. Godfrin. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Goldbeck, V.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: González, L.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Iglesias, A.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Martínez Bogado, M. G.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Mezzabolta, E.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Moglioni, A.. Comisión Nacional de Energía Atómica. Centro Atómico Constituyentes; ArgentinaFil: Muñoz, S.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Nigro, S.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Olima, J. M.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Plá, Juan Francisco Esteban. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Raffo Calderón, M. C.. No especifíca;Fil: Raggio, D.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; ArgentinaFil: Rinaldi, Carlos Alberto. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. Gerencia Física (CAC). Grupo Energía Solar; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Rodríguez, S.. Comision Nacional de Energía Atómica. Gerencia del Área de Investigación y Aplicaciones no Nucleares. 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