Dynamic reflective color pixels based on molybdenum oxide

Active materials which show phase transitions, usually known as Phase Change Materials (PCM), have paved the way to a new generation of reconfigurable plasmonic platforms. Tunable color devices have experienced a great development in the recent years. In particular, reflective color filters can take advantage from sunlight to select and reflect a specific resonant wavelength in the visible spectrum range. Reflective displays are usually structural color filters based on asymmetric Fabry-Perot cavities (AFPCs). For a fixed geometry, most of AFPCs filters generate static color, limiting their potential as tunable color devices. Dynamic color is achieved by introducing an active layer whose optical properties can be modulated by an external stimuli. In this paper, we propose AFPCs based on molybdenum oxide (MoOx, 2<x<3) to achieve switchable on/off color reflective pixels. On and off states of the pixels are controlled through the stoichiometry of the MoOx layer.This work has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement (No 899598 – PHEMTRONICS)

Gold nanodoughnut as an outstanding nanoheater for photothermal applications

Photoinduced hyperthermia is a cancer therapy technique that induces death to cancerous cells via heat generated by plasmonic nanoparticles. While previous studies have shown that some nanoparticles can be effective at killing cancer cells under certain conditions, there is still a necessity (or the need) to improve its heating efficiency. In this work, we perform a detailed theoretical study comparing the thermoplasmonic response of the most effective nanoparticle geometries up to now with a doughnut-shaped nanoparticle. We numerically demonstrate that the latter exhibits a superior tunable photothermal response in practical illumination conditions (unpolarized light). Furthermore, we show that nanoparticle heating in fluidic environments, i.e., nanoparticles undergoing Brownian rotations, strongly depends on the particle orientation with respect to the illumination source. We conclude that nanodoughnuts are the best nanoheaters in our set of structures, with an average temperature increment 40% higher than the second best nanoheater (nanodisk). Furthermore, nanodoughnuts feature a weak dependence on orientation, being therefore ideal candidates for photothermal therapy applications. Finally, we present a designing guide, covering a wide range of toroid designs, which can help on its experimental implementation.Acknowledgments. Authors would like to thank A. Franco and C. R. Crick for the interesting discussions. We gratefully acknowledge financial support from Spanish national project (No. PGC2018-096649-B-I), the UK Leverhulme Turst (Grant No. RPG-2018-384), UK-EPSRC (EP/J003859/1) and Imperial College Europeans Partner Fund grant. J. G-C. thanks the Ministry of science of Spain for his FPI grant. G. S. thanks the Ministry of education for his collaboration grant and P.A. acknowledges funding for a Ramon y Cajal Fellowship (Grant No. RYC-2016-20831)

The UV plasmonic behavior of distorted rhodium nanocubes

For applications of surface-enhanced spectroscopy and photocatalysis, the ultraviolet (UV) plasmonic behavior and charge distribution within rhodium nanocubes is explored by a detailed numerical analysis. The strongest plasmonic hot-spots and charge concentrations are located at the corners and edges of the nanocubes, exactly where they are the most spectroscopically and catalytically active. Because intense catalytic activity at corners and edges will reshape these nanoparticles, distortions of the cubical shape, including surface concavity, surface convexity, and rounded corners and edges, are also explored to quantify how significantly these distortions deteriorate their plasmonic and photocatalytic properties. The fact that the highest fields and highest carrier concentrations occur in the corners and edges of Rh nanocubes (NCs) confirms their tremendous potential for plasmon-enhanced spectroscopy and catalysis. It is shown that this opportunity is fortuitously enhanced by the fact that even higher field and charge concentrations reside at the interface between the metal nanoparticle and a dielectric or semiconductor support, precisely where the most chemically active sites are located.This research has been supported by MICINN (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, project FIS2013-45854-P). Research was sponsored by the Army Research Laboratory and was accomplished under Cooperative Agreement Number W911NF-17-2-0023. Y.G. wants to thank the University of Cantabria for her FPU (formación del profesorado universitario) gran

Ablación de modelos experimentales para estudio del encurvamiento periférico en la topografía corneal post-LASIK para corrección de miopía

En pacientes miopes intervenidos mediante cirugía LASIK, se observa en la topografía corneal la presencia de una encurvamiento a nivel periférico, cuya causa se ha relacionado con la biomecánica corneal. En este estudio, se analizó la presencia de este encurvamiento sobre cuatro tipos de modelos corneales experimentales sin respuesta biomecánica. Se observó la presencia de un anillo de encurvamiento periférico sobre la zona de transición que estaría en desacuerdo con un origen biomecánico del mismo

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

Effectiveness of an intervention for improving drug prescription in primary care patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy:Study protocol of a cluster randomized clinical trial (Multi-PAP project)

This study was funded by the Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias ISCIII (Grant Numbers PI15/00276, PI15/00572, PI15/00996), REDISSEC (Project Numbers RD12/0001/0012, RD16/0001/0005), and the European Regional Development Fund ("A way to build Europe").Background: Multimorbidity is associated with negative effects both on people's health and on healthcare systems. A key problem linked to multimorbidity is polypharmacy, which in turn is associated with increased risk of partly preventable adverse effects, including mortality. The Ariadne principles describe a model of care based on a thorough assessment of diseases, treatments (and potential interactions), clinical status, context and preferences of patients with multimorbidity, with the aim of prioritizing and sharing realistic treatment goals that guide an individualized management. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a complex intervention that implements the Ariadne principles in a population of young-old patients with multimorbidity and polypharmacy. The intervention seeks to improve the appropriateness of prescribing in primary care (PC), as measured by the medication appropriateness index (MAI) score at 6 and 12months, as compared with usual care. Methods/Design: Design:pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial. Unit of randomization: family physician (FP). Unit of analysis: patient. Scope: PC health centres in three autonomous communities: Aragon, Madrid, and Andalusia (Spain). Population: patients aged 65-74years with multimorbidity (≥3 chronic diseases) and polypharmacy (≥5 drugs prescribed in ≥3months). Sample size: n=400 (200 per study arm). Intervention: complex intervention based on the implementation of the Ariadne principles with two components: (1) FP training and (2) FP-patient interview. Outcomes: MAI score, health services use, quality of life (Euroqol 5D-5L), pharmacotherapy and adherence to treatment (Morisky-Green, Haynes-Sackett), and clinical and socio-demographic variables. Statistical analysis: primary outcome is the difference in MAI score between T0 and T1 and corresponding 95% confidence interval. Adjustment for confounding factors will be performed by multilevel analysis. All analyses will be carried out in accordance with the intention-to-treat principle. Discussion: It is essential to provide evidence concerning interventions on PC patients with polypharmacy and multimorbidity, conducted in the context of routine clinical practice, and involving young-old patients with significant potential for preventing negative health outcomes. Trial registration: Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT02866799Publisher PDFPeer reviewe

5to. Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad. Memoria académica

El V Congreso Internacional de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación para la Sociedad, CITIS 2019, realizado del 6 al 8 de febrero de 2019 y organizado por la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, ofreció a la comunidad académica nacional e internacional una plataforma de comunicación unificada, dirigida a cubrir los problemas teóricos y prácticos de mayor impacto en la sociedad moderna desde la ingeniería. En esta edición, dedicada a los 25 años de vida de la UPS, los ejes temáticos estuvieron relacionados con la aplicación de la ciencia, el desarrollo tecnológico y la innovación en cinco pilares fundamentales de nuestra sociedad: la industria, la movilidad, la sostenibilidad ambiental, la información y las telecomunicaciones. El comité científico estuvo conformado formado por 48 investigadores procedentes de diez países: España, Reino Unido, Italia, Bélgica, México, Venezuela, Colombia, Brasil, Estados Unidos y Ecuador. Fueron recibidas un centenar de contribuciones, de las cuales 39 fueron aprobadas en forma de ponencias y 15 en formato poster. Estas contribuciones fueron presentadas de forma oral ante toda la comunidad académica que se dio cita en el Congreso, quienes desde el aula magna, el auditorio y la sala de usos múltiples de la Universidad Politécnica Salesiana, cumplieron respetuosamente la responsabilidad de representar a toda la sociedad en la revisión, aceptación y validación del conocimiento nuevo que fue presentado en cada exposición por los investigadores. Paralelo a las sesiones técnicas, el Congreso contó con espacios de presentación de posters científicos y cinco workshops en temáticas de vanguardia que cautivaron la atención de nuestros docentes y estudiantes. También en el marco del evento se impartieron un total de ocho conferencias magistrales en temas tan actuales como la gestión del conocimiento en la universidad-ecosistema, los retos y oportunidades de la industria 4.0, los avances de la investigación básica y aplicada en mecatrónica para el estudio de robots de nueva generación, la optimización en ingeniería con técnicas multi-objetivo, el desarrollo de las redes avanzadas en Latinoamérica y los mundos, la contaminación del aire debido al tránsito vehicular, el radón y los riesgos que representa este gas radiactivo para la salud humana, entre otros

Famílies botàniques de plantes medicinals

Facultat de Farmàcia, Universitat de Barcelona. Ensenyament: Grau de Farmàcia, Assignatura: Botànica Farmacèutica, Curs: 2013-2014, Coordinadors: Joan Simon, Cèsar Blanché i Maria Bosch.Els materials que aquí es presenten són els recull de 175 treballs d’una família botànica d’interès medicinal realitzats de manera individual. Els treballs han estat realitzat per la totalitat dels estudiants dels grups M-2 i M-3 de l’assignatura Botànica Farmacèutica durant els mesos d’abril i maig del curs 2013-14. Tots els treballs s’han dut a terme a través de la plataforma de GoogleDocs i han estat tutoritzats pel professor de l’assignatura i revisats i finalment co-avaluats entre els propis estudiants. L’objectiu principal de l’activitat ha estat fomentar l’aprenentatge autònom i col·laboratiu en Botànica farmacèutica

Design of Switchable On/Off Subpixels for Primary Color Generation Based on Molybdenum Oxide Gratings

Structural color emerges from the interaction of light with structured matter when its dimension is comparable to the incident wavelength. The reflected color can be switched by controlling such interaction with materials whose properties can be changed through external stimuli such as electrical, optical, or thermal excitation. In this research, a molybdenum oxide (MoOx) reflective grating to get a switchable on/off subpixel is designed and analyzed. The design is based on subpixel on and off states that could be controlled through the oxidation degree of MoOx. A suitable combination of three of these subpixels, optimized to get a control of primary colors, red, green, and blue, can lead to a pixel which can cover a wide range of colors in the color space for reflective display applications.The authors received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 899598—PHEMTRONICS

Effect of the oxide shell thickness on the UV plasmonic performance of Ga, Mg and Al nanoparticles

A recent interest in UV-plasmonics has appeared due to its increasing potential in many applications ranging from biology, spectroscopy or engineering. Magnesium, Aluminum and Gallium have been pointed out as promising materials for this purpose. However, these metals form an oxide layer, several nanometers thick, that may affect the formation of localized plasmons. In this work we analyze how the oxide shell thickness affect the plasmonic performance of nanostructures made from these metals.This research has been supported by MICINN (Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, project FIS2013-45854P). Y. G thanks the University of Cantabria for her FPU grant