Analysis of the urine microbiological results and its impact on the protocol of the prophylaxis of the urology department in our area

Objetivos: Analizar cuáles son los microorganismos más frecuentemente aislados en los urinocultivos realizados en nuestro centro hospitalario. Estudiar el antibiograma de dichos gérmenes para definir cuál es la mejor profilaxis preoperatoria en la cirugía urológica en nuestro medio. Material y métodos: Se realizó un análisis retrospectivo de todos los urinocultivos de pacientes adultos recogidos en el Servicio de Microbiología de nuestro hospital durante el año 2015. La identificación y estudio de sensibilidad de los microorganismos aislados se realizó mediante el sistema automático Vitek 2 (BioMèrieux), seleccionando los antibióticos en función del microorganismo aislado. Se estudió el antibiograma comparándolo con las sugerencias recogidas en la última actualización de las Guías Europeas de Urología sobre infecciones urológicas, que recomiendan ampliamente el empleo de fluorquinolonas, cotrimoxazol, aminopenicilinas/betalactamasas y cefalosporinas en la cirugía limpia-contaminada, la más frecuente en nuestra actividad quirúrgica. Resultados: Se estudió un total de 11.987 muestras de orina, de las cuales 3.457 (28%) fueron positivas en la detección de microorganismos. Los más frecuentes aislados fueron Escherichia coli (46%%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (14%) y Enterococcus faecalis (11%). En el análisis de los antibiogramas se detectaron resistencias superiores al 30% en E.coli frente a los antibióticos recomendados en las Guías de referencia. De igual forma, E. faecalis, otro de los uropatógenos más frecuentes es intrínsecamente resistente a cefalosporinas. Conclusión: El empleo de guías clínicas con grados de recomendación es de vital importancia en la patología infecciosa urológica, debiéndose adecuar al entorno microbiológico de cada área. En nuestro caso, inferimos que tanto el empleo de amoxicilina-clavulánico como fosfomicina se perfilan como la mejor opción para la profilaxis preoperatoria en pacientes de bajo riesgo así, como para el manejo empírico en casos de infección urinaria.Object: To analyze which are the more often microorganism isolated in the urine cultures in our hospital. To study the antibiogram to define which is the best preoperative prophylaxis in our urological surgeries. Material and methods: We retrospective reviewed consecutive urine culture samples assembled in adult patients in the Service of Microbiology in our hospital during 2015. The identification and study of sensibility of the isolated microorganisms was realized by means of the automatic system Vitek 2 (BioMèrieux), selecting the antibiotics according to the isolated microorganism. The antibiogram was studied comparing the suggestions gathered in the last update of the European Guides of Urología in urological infections, that recommend employment extensively: fluoroquinolones, cotrimoxazole, aminopenicillins / beta-lactamases and cephalosporins in the clean-contaminated, most frequent surgery in our daily surgical practice. Results: In total 11.987 urine samples were evaluated, 3.457 (28%) were positive. The most frequent micro-organisms isolated were Escherichia coli (46%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (14%) and Enterococcus faecalis (11%). In the antibiogram analysis resistances was detected up to 30% in E. coli, opposite to the antibiotics recommendations in the Guides of reference. Even, E. faecalis, another of the most frequent uropathogens is intrinsically resistant to cefalosporins. Conclusions: The use of clinical guides with grade of recommendation it is of vital importance in the urological infection pathology, and they should be adapted to the microbiological environment of each area. In our case, we infer that the use of Amoxicillin-clavulanic and Fosfomycin are outlined like the best option for preoperative prophylaxis in low risk patients and for empirical handling in cases of urine infection

Microgrooves and microrugosities in titanium implant surfaces: an in vitro and in vivo evaluation

This article belongs to the Special Issue Clinical Implants and the Biocompatibility of Biodegradable BiomaterialsThe physical characteristics of an implant surface can determine and/or facilitate osseointegration processes. In this sense, a new implant surface with microgrooves associated with plus double acid treatment to generate roughness was evaluated and compared in vitro and in vivo with a non-treated (smooth) and double acid surface treatment. Thirty disks and thirty-six conical implants manufactured from commercially pure titanium (grade IV) were prepared for this study. Three groups were determined, as described below: Group 1 (G1), where the samples were only machined; group 2 (G2), where the samples were machined and had their surface treated to generate roughness; and test group 3 (G3), where the samples were machined with microgrooves and the surface was treated to generate the roughness. For the in vitro analysis, the samples were submitted to scanning microscopy (SEM), surface profilometry, the atomic force microscope (MFA) and the surface energy test. For the in vivo analyses, thirty-six implants were placed in the tibia of 9 New Zealand rabbits in a randomized manner, after histological and histomorphometric analysis, to determine the level of contact between the bone and implant (BIC%) and the bone area fraction occupancy (BAFO%) inside of the threads. The data collected were statistically analyzed between groups (p < 0.05). The in vitro evaluations showed different roughness patterns between the groups, and the G3 group had the highest values. In vivo evaluations of the BIC% showed 50.45 ± 9.57% for the G1 group, 55.32 ± 10.31% for the G2 group and 68.65 ± 9.98% for the G3 group, with significant statistical difference between the groups (p < 0.0001). In the BAFO% values, the G1 group presented 54.97 ± 9.56%, the G2 group 59.09 ± 10.13% and the G3 group 70.12 ± 11.07%, with statistical difference between the groups (p < 0.001). The results obtained in the evaluations show that the surface with microgrooves stimulates the process of osseointegration, accelerating the healing process, increasing the contact between the bone and the implant and the area of new bone formation

Synergy of DNA intercalation and catalytic activity of a copper complex towards improved polymerase inhibition and cancer cell cytotoxicity

Improving the binding of metal complexes to DNA to boost cancer cell cytotoxicity requires fine tuning of their structural and chemical properties. Copper has been used as a metal center in compounds containing intercalating ligands due to its ability to catalytically generate reactive oxygen species (ROS), such as hydroxyl radicals (OH˙). We envision the synergy of DNA binding and ROS generation in proximity to target DNA as a powerful chemotherapy treatment. Here, we explore the use of [Cu(2CP-Bz-SMe)]2+(2CP-Bz-SMe = 1,3-bis(1,10-phenanthrolin-2-yloxy)-N-(4-(methylthio)benzylidene)propan-2-amine) for this purpose by characterizing its cytotoxicity, DNA binding, and ability to affect DNA replication through the polymerase chain reaction - PCR and nuclease assays. We determined the binding (Kb) and Stern-Volmer constants (KSV) for complex-DNA association of 5.8 ± 0.14 × 104and 1.64 (±0.08), respectively, through absorption titration and competitive fluorescence experiments. These values were superior to those of other Cu-complex intercalators. We hypothesize that the distorted trigonal bipyramidal geometry of [Cu(2CP-Bz-SMe)]2+allows the phenanthroline fragments to be better accommodated into the DNA double helix. Moreover, the aromaticity of these fragments increases the local hydrophobicity thus increasing the affinity for the hydrophobic domains of DNA. Nuclease assays in the presence of common reducing agents ascorbic acid, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide, and glutathione showed the effective degradation of DNA due to thein situgeneration of OH˙. The [Cu(2CP-Bz-SMe)]2+complex showed cytotoxicity against the following human cancer cells lines A549, MCF-7, MDA-MB-231 and MG-63 with half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) values of 4.62 ± 0.48, 5.20 ± 0.76, 5.70 ± 0.42 and 2.88 ± 0.66 μM, respectively. These low values of IC50, which are promising if compared to that of cisplatin, are ascribed to the synergistic effect of ROS generation with the intercalation ability into the DNA minor grooves and blocking DNA replication. This study introduces new principles for synergizing the chemical and structural properties of intercalation compounds for improved drug-DNA interactions targeting cancer.Fil: Romo, Adolfo I. B.. University of Illinois. Urbana - Champaign; Estados Unidos. Universidade Federal do Ceara; BrasilFil: Carepo, Marta P.. Universidade Nova de Lisboa; PortugalFil: Levin, Pedro. Universidad de Santiago de Chile; ChileFil: Nascimento, Otaciro R.. Universidade Federal do São Carlos; BrasilFil: Díaz, Daniel E.. Universidad de Santiago de Chile; ChileFil: Rodriguez Lopez, Joaquin. University of Illinois. Urbana - Champaign; Estados UnidosFil: Leon, Ignacio Esteban. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino". Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Centro de Química Inorgánica "Dr. Pedro J. Aymonino"; ArgentinaFil: Bezerra, Lucas F.. Universidade Federal do Ceara; BrasilFil: Lemus, Luis A.. Universidad de Santiago de Chile; ChileFil: Diógenes, Izaura C. N.. Universidade Federal do Ceara; Brasi

Estimación dinámica de parámetros para un modelo ecológico del Embalse Los Molinos

Fil: Rodriguez Reartes, S. B. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.Fil: Estrada, V. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.Fil: Bazán, R. Instituto Sup de Estudios Ambientales; Argentina.Fil: Bazán, R. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: Larrosa, N. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: Cossavella, A. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: Cossavella, A. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina.Fil: López, A. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: López, A. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina.Fil: Busso, F. Aguas Cordobesas S.A.; Argentina.Fil: Díaz, M. S. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.En este trabajo, presentamos y calibramos un modelo de calidad de agua basado en primeros principios, el cual representa los procesos ecológicos a través de un complejo set de ecuaciones algebraicodiferenciales. El modelo requiere la estimación de numerosos parámetros para ajustar a las condiciones ambientales específicas del sitio en estudio. Se consideran los gradientes de las variables de estado a lo largo de la columna de agua, resultando en un sistema de ecuaciones algebraicas y diferenciales a derivadas parciales. Luego, el sistema es transformado a un sistema ordinario diferencial-algebraico (EDA) por discretización espacial del cuerpo de agua en capas horizontales. Los principales parámetros biogeoquímicos del modelo son obtenidos por resolución de un problema de estimación dinámica de parámetros, sujeto al EDA formulado. Los parámetros calculados permiten una representación apropiada de la dinámica del cuerpo de agua, como se muestra en los resultados numéricos.Fil: Rodriguez Reartes, S. B. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.Fil: Estrada, V. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.Fil: Bazán, R. Instituto Sup de Estudios Ambientales; Argentina.Fil: Bazán, R. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: Larrosa, N. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: Cossavella, A. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: Cossavella, A. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina.Fil: López, A. Universidad Nacional de Córdoba. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales. Departamento de química Industrial y Aplicada; Argentina.Fil: López, A. Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos; Argentina.Fil: Busso, F. Aguas Cordobesas S.A.; Argentina.Fil: Díaz, M. S. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Planta Piloto de Ingeniería Química; Argentina.Otras Ingeniería Químic

FCNC Top Quark Decays in Extra Dimensions

The flavor changing neutral top quark decay t -> c X is computed, where X is a neutral standard model particle, in a extended model with a single extra dimension. The cases for the photon, X= \gamma$, and a Standard Model Higgs boson, X = H, are analyzed in detail in a non-linear$R_\xi gauge. We find that the branching ratios can be enhanced by the dynamics originated in the extra dimension. In the limit where 1/R >> ->, we have found Br(t -> c \gamma) \simeq 10^{-10} for 1/R = 0.5 TeV. For the decay t -> c H, we have found Br(t -> cH) \simeq 10^{-10} for a low Higgs mass value. The branching ratios go to zero when 1/R -> \infty.Comment: Accepted to be published in the Europ. Phys. Jour. C; 16 pages, 2 figure

University quality measurement model based on balanced scorecard

A Higher Education Institution (HEI) has the responsibility to track the processes through indicators that guarantee the measurement of the results in almost real time. This article presents the design of a management and quality model of the processes in a university, through the integration of a Balance Scorecard (BSC) and the implementation of an information system. For which it was required: a review of existing tracing and monitoring systems in the academic sector, definition of the requirements of the proposed technological, a diagnosis of the current measurement system of the HEI analyzed, identify measurement indicators and develop a technological tool. The designed model presents a precise and clear methodological guide that can be replicated in any HEI to monitor its processes

Real-time Soundprism

[EN] This paper presents a parallel real-time sound source separation system for decomposing an audio signal captured with a single microphone in so many audio signals as the number of instruments that are really playing. This approach is usually known as Soundprism. The application scenario of the system is for a concert hall in which users, instead of listening to the mixed audio, want to receive the audio of just an instrument, focusing on a particular performance. The challenge is even greater since we are interested in a real-time system on handheld devices, i.e., devices characterized by both low power consumption and mobility. The results presented show that it is possible to obtain real-time results in the tested scenarios using an ARM processor aided by a GPU, when this one is present.This work has been supported by the "Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad" of Spain and FEDER under projects TEC2015-67387-C4-{1,2,3}-R.Muñoz-Montoro, AJ.; Ranilla, J.; Vera-Candeas, P.; Combarro, EF.; Alonso-Jordá, P. (2019). Real-time Soundprism. The Journal of Supercomputing. 75(3):1594-1609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-018-2703-0S15941609753Alonso P, Cortina R, Rodríguez-Serrano FJ, Vera-Candeas P, Alonso-González M, Ranilla J (2017) Parallel online time warping for real-time audio-to-score alignment in multi-core systems. J Supercomput 73:126. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-016-1647-5Carabias-Orti JJ, Cobos M, Vera-Candeas P, Rodríguez-Serrano FJ (2013) Nonnegative signal factorization with learnt instrument models for sound source separation in close-microphone recordings. 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J Supercomput 71:1846–1856. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11227-014-1363-yDriedger J, Grohganz H, Prätzlich T, Ewert S, Müller M (2013) Score-informed audio decomposition and applications. In: Proceedings of the 21st ACM International Conference on Multimedia, pp 541–544Duan Z, Pardo B (2011) Soundprism: an online system for score-informed source separation of music audio. IEEE J Sel Top Signal Process 5(6):1205–1215Duong NQ, Vincent E, Gribonval R (2010) Under-determined reverberant audio source separation using a full-rank spatial covariance model. IEEE Trans Audio Speech 18(7):1830–1840. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASL.2010.2050716Ewert S, Müller M (2011) Estimating note intensities in music recordings. In: Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, pp 385–388Ewert S, Pardo B, Mueller M, Plumbley MD (2014) Score-informed source separation for musical audio recordings: an overview. IEEE Signal Process Mag 31:116–124. https://doi.org/10.1109/MSP.2013.2296076Fastl H, Zwicker E (2007) Psychoacoustics. Springer, BerlinGanseman J, Scheunders P, Mysore GJ, Abel JS (2010) Source separation by score synthesis. Int Comput Music Conf 2010:1–4Goto M, Hashiguchi H, Nishimura T, Oka R (2002) RWC music database: popular, classical and jazz music databases. In: ISMIR, vol 2, pp 287–288Goto M (2004) Development of the RWC music database. In: Proceedings of the 18th International Congress on Acoustics (ICA 2004), ppp 553–556Hennequin R, David B, Badeau R (2011) Score informed audio source separation using a parametric model of non-negative spectrogram. In: 2011 IEEE International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing (ICASSP) pp 45–48. https://doi.org/10.1109/ICASSP.2011.5946324Itoyama K, Goto M, Komatani K et al (2008) Instrument equalizer for query-by-example retrieval: improving sound source separation based on integrated harmonic and inharmonic models. In: ISMIR. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.324.7341.827Marxer R, Janer J, Bonada J (2012) Low-latency instrument separation in polyphonic audio using timbre models. In: International Conference on Latent Variable Analysis and Signal Separation, pp 314–321Miron M, Carabias-Orti JJ, Janer J (2015) Improving score-informed source separation for classical music through note refinement. In: ISMIR, pp 448–454Ozerov A, Févotte C (2010) Multichannel nonnegative matrix factorization in convolutive mixtures for audio source separation. IEEE Trans Audio Speech Lang Process 18:550–563. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASL.2009.2031510Ozerov A, Vincent E, Bimbot F (2012) A general flexible framework for the handling of prior information in audio source separation. IEEE Trans Audio Speech Lang Process 20:1118–1133. https://doi.org/10.1109/TASL.2011.2172425Pätynen J, Pulkki V, Lokki T (2008) Anechoic recording system for symphony orchestra. Acta Acust United Acust 94:856–865. https://doi.org/10.3813/AAA.918104Raphael C (2008) A classifier-based approach to score-guided source separation of musical audio. Comput Music J 32:51–59. https://doi.org/10.1162/comj.2008.32.1.51Rodriguez-Serrano FJ, Duan Z, Vera-Candeas P, Pardo B, Carabias-Orti JJ (2015) Online score-informed source separation with adaptive instrument models. J New Music Res 44:83–96. https://doi.org/10.1080/09298215.2014.989174Rodriguez-Serrano FJ, Carabias-Orti JJ, Vera-Candeas P, Martinez-Munoz D (2016) Tempo driven audio-to-score alignment using spectral decomposition and online dynamic time warping. ACM Trans Intell Syst Technol 8:1–20. https://doi.org/10.1145/2926717Sawada H, Araki S, Makino S (2011) Underdetermined convolutive blind source separation via frequency bin-wise clustering and permutation alignment. 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Non-Hermitian SUSY Hydrogen-like Hamiltonians with real spectra

It is shown that the radial part of the Hydrogen Hamiltonian factorizes as the product of two not mutually adjoint first order differential operators plus a complex constant epsilon. The 1-susy approach is used to construct non-hermitian Hamiltonians with hydrogen spectra. Other non-hermitian Hamiltonians are shown to admit an extra `complex energy' at epsilon. New self-adjoint hydrogen-like Hamiltonians are also derived by using a 2-susy transformation with complex conjugate pairs epsilon, (c.c) epsilon.Comment: LaTeX2e file, 13 pages, 6 EPS figures. New references added. The present is a reorganized and simplified versio

The Male Warrior Hypothesis: Testosterone-related Cooperation and Aggression in the Context of Intergroup Conflict

Indexación ScopusThe Male Warrior Hypothesis (MWH) establishes that men’s psychology has been shaped by inter-group competition to acquire and protect reproductive resources. In this context, sex-specific selective pressures would have favored cooperation with the members of one’s group in combination with hostility towards outsiders. We investigate the role of developmental testosterone, as measured indirectly through static markers of prenatal testosterone (2D:4D digit ratio) and pubertal testosterone (body musculature and facial masculinity), on both cooperation and aggressive behavior in the context of intergroup conflict among men. Supporting the MWH, our results show that the intergroup conflict scenario promotes cooperation within group members and aggression toward outgroup members. Regarding the hormonal underpinnings of this phenomenon, we find that body musculature is positively associated with aggression and cooperation, but only for cooperation when context (inter-group competition) is taken into account. Finally, we did not find evidence that the formidability of the group affected individual rates of aggression or cooperation, controlling for individual characteristics. © 2020, The Author(s).https://www-nature-com.recursosbiblioteca.unab.cl/articles/s41598-019-57259-