4,843 research outputs found
Management of the COPD patient with comorbidities: an experts recommendation document
Background: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with multiple comorbidities, which impact negatively on patients and are often underdiagnosed, thus lacking a proper management due to the absence of clear guidelines.
Purpose: To elaborate expert recommendations aimed to help healthcare professionals to provide the right care for treating COPD patients with comorbidities.
Methods: A modified RAND-UCLA appropriateness method consisting of nominal groups to draw up consensus recommendations (6 Spanish experts) and 2-Delphi rounds to validate them (23 Spanish experts) was performed.
Results: A panel of Spanish internal medicine experts reached consensus on 73 recommendations and 81 conclusions on the clinical consequences of the presence of comorbidities. In general, the experts reached consensus on the issues raised with regard to cardiovascular comorbidity and metabolic disorders. Consensus was reached on the use of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors in cases of depression and the usefulness of referring patients
with anxiety to respiratory rehabilitation programmes. The results also showed consensus on the usefulness of investigating the quality of sleep, the treatment of pain with opioids and the evaluation of osteoporosis by lateral chest radiography.
Conclusion: This study provides conclusions and recommendations that are intended to improve the management of the complexity of patients with COPD and important comorbidities, usually excluded from clinical trials.
Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, COPD, comorbidities, modified RANDUCLA, Delphi techniqu
Covariant Momentum Map Thermodynamics for Parametrized Field Theories
Inspired by Souriau's symplectic generalization of the Maxwell-Boltzmann-Gibbs equilibrium in Lie group thermodynamics, we investigate a spacetime-covariant formalism for statistical mechanics and thermodynamics in the multi-symplectic framework for relativistic field theories. A general-covariant Gibbs state is derived, via a maximal entropy principle approach, in terms of the covariant momentum map associated with the lifted action of the diffeomorphisms group on the extended phase space of the fields. Such an equilibrium distribution induces a canonical spacetime foliation, with a Lie algebra-valued generalized notion of temperature associated to the covariant choice of a reference frame, and it describes a system of fields allowed to have non-vanishing probabilities of occupying states different from the diffeomorphism invariant configuration. We focus on the case of parametrized first-order field theories, as a concrete simplified model for fully constrained field theories sharing fundamental general covariant features with canonical general relativity. In this setting, we investigate how physical equilibrium, hence time evolution, emerge from such a state via a gauge-fixing of the diffeomorphism symmetry
Produzione, mercato e consumi della cerasicoltura spagnola
La crisi di sovrapproduzione di alcune specie tradizionali sta favorendo la crescita del ciliegio, che mostra
un costante incremento delle superfici, favorito dal rinnovamento varietale, dall’aumento dei consumi, dal
miglioramento delle tecnologie di produzione e dalla precocità di maturazione. Tutti fattori che
garantiscono alla Spagna elevata competitività nelle esportazioni verso i Paesi dell’Ue.Colaboración en el blog: Rivista di frutticoltura e di ortofloricoltura. Disponible: http://www.rivistafrutticoltura.it
Non-gray rotating stellar models and the evolutionary history of the Orion Nebular Cluster
Rotational evolution in the pre-main sequence (PMS) is described with new
sets of PMS evolutionary tracks including rotation, non-gray boundary
conditions (BCs) and either low (LCE) or high convection efficiency (HCE).
Using observational data and our theoretical predictions, we aim at
constraining 1) the differences obtained for the rotational evolution of stars
within the ONC by means of these different sets of models; 2) the initial
angular momentum of low mass stars, by means of their templates in the ONC. We
discuss the reliability of current stellar models for the PMS. While the 2D
radiation hydrodynamic simulations predict HCE in PMS, semi-empirical
calibrations either seem to require that convection is less efficient in PMS
than in the following MS phase or are still contradictory. We derive stellar
masses and ages for the ONC by using both LCE and HCE. The resulting mass
distribution for the bulk of the ONC population is in the range 0.20.3
{\msun} for our non-gray models and in the range 0.10.3{\msun} for models
having gray BCs. In agreement with Herbst et al. (2002) we find that a large
percentage (70%) of low-mass stars (M\simlt 0.5{\msun} for LCE;
M\simlt0.35{\msun} for HCE) in the ONC appears to be fast rotators (P4days).
Three possibilities are open: 1) 70% of the ONC low mass stars lose their
disk at early evolutionary phases; 2)their locking period is shorter; 3) the
period evolution is linked to a different morphology of the magnetic fields of
the two groups of stars. We also estimate the range of initial angular momentum
consistent with the observed periods. The comparisons made indicate that a
second parameter is needed to describe convection in the PMS, possibly related
to the structural effect of a dynamo magnetic field.Comment: 17 pages, 11 figure
Ionized gas kinematics of galaxies in the CALIFA survey I: Velocity fields, kinematic parameters of the dominant component, and presence of kinematically distinct gaseous systems
This work provides an overall characterization of the kinematic behavior of
the ionized gas of the galaxies included in the Calar Alto Legacy Integral
field Area (CALIFA), offering kinematic clues to potential users of this survey
for including kinematical criteria for specific studies. From the first 200
galaxies observed by CALIFA, we present the 2D kinematic view of the 177
galaxies satisfying a gas detection threshold. After removing the stellar
contribution, we used the cross-correlation technique to obtain the radial
velocity of the dominant gaseous component. The main kinematic parameters were
directly derived from the radial velocities with no assumptions on the internal
motions. Evidence of the presence of several gaseous components with different
kinematics were detected by using [OIII] profiles. Most objects in the sample
show regular velocity fields, although the ionized-gas kinematics are rarely
consistent with simple coplanar circular motions. 35% of the objects present
evidence of a displacement between the photometric and kinematic centers larger
than the original spaxel radii. Only 17% of the objects in the sample exhibit
kinematic lopsidedness when comparing receding and approaching sides of the
velocity fields, but most of them are interacting galaxies exhibiting nuclear
activity. Early-type galaxies in the sample present clear photometric-kinematic
misaligments. There is evidence of asymmetries in the emission line profiles
suggesting the presence of kinematically distinct gaseous components at
different distances from the nucleus. This work constitutes the first
determination of the ionized gas kinematics of the galaxies observed in the
CALIFA survey. The derived velocity fields, the reported kinematic
peculiarities and the identification of the presence of several gaseous
components might be used as additional criteria for selecting galaxies for
specific studies.Comment: 38 pages, 16 figures, 4 tables. Paper accepted for publication in A&
Biomimetic Magnetic Nanocarriers Drive Choline Kinase Alpha Inhibitor inside Cancer Cells for Combined Chemo-Hyperthermia Therapy
Choline kinase a1 (ChoKa1) has become an excellent antitumor target. Among all the
inhibitors synthetized, the new compound Ff35 shows an excellent capacity to inhibit ChoKa1 activity.
However, soluble Ff35 is also capable of inhibiting choline uptake, making the inhibitor not selective
for ChoKa1. In this study, we designed a new protocol with the aim of disentangling whether the
Ff35 biological action is due to the inhibition of the enzyme and/or to the choline uptake. Moreover,
we offer an alternative to avoid the inhibition of choline uptake caused by Ff35, since the coupling
of Ff35 to novel biomimetic magnetic nanoparticles (BMNPs) allows it to enter the cell through
endocytosis without interacting with the choline transporter. This opens the possibility of a clinical
use of Ff35. Our results indicate that Ff35-BMNPs nanoassemblies increase the selectivity of Ff35 and
have an antiproliferative effect. Also, we demonstrate the effectiveness of the tandem Ff35-BMNPs
and hyperthermia.This research was funded by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (CGL2013-46612 and
CGL2016-76723 projects), Ramón y Cajal programme (RYC-2014-16901) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo
Regional (FEDER). Also, this research was aided by the Andalusian regional government (CTS-236)
Imprints of galaxy evolution on H ii regions Memory of the past uncovered by the CALIFA survey
H ii regions in galaxies are the sites of star formation and thus particular
places to understand the build-up of stellar mass in the universe. The line
ratios of this ionized gas are frequently used to characterize the ionization
conditions. We use the Hii regions catalogue from the CALIFA survey (~5000 H ii
regions), to explore their distribution across the classical [OIII]/Hbeta vs.
[NII]/Halpha diagnostic diagram, and how it depends on the oxygen abundance,
ionization parameter, electron density, and dust attenuation. We compared the
line ratios with predictions from photoionization models. Finally, we explore
the dependences on the properties of the host galaxies, the location within
those galaxies and the properties of the underlying stellar population. We
found that the location within the BPT diagrams is not totally predicted by
photoionization models. Indeed, it depends on the properties of the host
galaxies, their galactocentric distances and the properties of the underlying
stellar population. These results indicate that although H ii regions are short
lived events, they are affected by the total underlying stellar population. One
may say that H ii regions keep a memory of the stellar evolution and chemical
enrichment that have left an imprint on the both the ionizing stellar
population and the ionized gasComment: 18 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publishing in A&
The effects of spatial resolution on Integral Field Spectrograph surveys at different redshifts. The CALIFA perspective
Over the past decade, 3D optical spectroscopy has become the preferred tool
for understanding the properties of galaxies and is now increasingly used to
carry out galaxy surveys. Low redshift surveys include SAURON, DiskMass,
ATLAS3D, PINGS and VENGA. At redshifts above 0.7, surveys such as MASSIV, SINS,
GLACE, and IMAGES have targeted the most luminous galaxies to study mainly
their kinematic properties. The on-going CALIFA survey () is the
first of a series of upcoming Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS) surveys with
large samples representative of the entire population of galaxies. Others
include SAMI and MaNGA at lower redshift and the upcoming KMOS surveys at
higher redshift. Given the importance of spatial scales in IFS surveys, the
study of the effects of spatial resolution on the recovered parameters becomes
important. We explore the capability of the CALIFA survey and a hypothetical
higher redshift survey to reproduce the properties of a sample of objects
observed with better spatial resolution at lower redshift. Using a sample of
PINGS galaxies, we simulate observations at different redshifts. We then study
the behaviour of different parameters as the spatial resolution degrades with
increasing redshift.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
The Mass-Metallicity relation explored with CALIFA: I. Is there a dependence on the star formation rate?
We present the results on the study of the global and local M-Z relation
based on the first data available from the CALIFA survey (150 galaxies). This
survey provides integral field spectroscopy of the complete optical extent of
each galaxy (up to 2-3 effective radii), with enough resolution to separate
individual HII regions and/or aggregations. Nearly 3000 individual HII
regions have been detected. The spectra cover the wavelength range between
[OII]3727 and [SII]6731, with a sufficient signal-to-noise to derive the oxygen
abundance and star-formation rate associated with each region. In addition, we
have computed the integrated and spatially resolved stellar masses (and surface
densities), based on SDSS photometric data. We explore the relations between
the stellar mass, oxygen abundance and star-formation rate using this dataset.
We derive a tight relation between the integrated stellar mass and the
gas-phase abundance, with a dispersion smaller than the one already reported in
the literature (0.07 dex). Indeed, this
dispersion is only slightly larger than the typical error derived for our
oxygen abundances. However, we do not find any secondary relation with the
star-formation rate, other than the one induced due to the primary relation of
this quantity with the stellar mass. We confirm the result using the 3000
individual HII regions, for the corresponding local relations.
Our results agree with the scenario in which gas recycling in galaxies, both
locally and globally, is much faster than other typical timescales, like that
of gas accretion by inflow and/or metal loss due to outflows. In essence,
late-type/disk dominated galaxies seem to be in a quasi-steady situation, with
a behavior similar to the one expected from an instantaneous
recycling/closed-box model.Comment: 19 Pages, 8 figures, Accepted for Publishing in Astronomy and
Astrophysics (A&A
NG2 antigen is involved in leukemia invasiveness and central nervous system infiltration in MLL-rearranged infant B-ALL
Mixed-lineage leukemia (MLL)-rearranged (MLLr) infant B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (iMLLr-B-ALL) has a dismal prognosis and is associated with a pro-B/mixed phenotype, therapy refractoriness and frequent central nervous system (CNS) disease/relapse. Neuron-glial antigen 2 (NG2) is specifically expressed in MLLr leukemias and is used in leukemia immunophenotyping because of its predictive value for MLLr acute leukemias. NG2 is involved in melanoma metastasis and brain development; however, its role in MLL-mediated leukemogenesis remains elusive. Here we evaluated whether NG2 distinguishes leukemia-initiating/propagating cells (L-ICs) and/or CNS-infiltrating cells (CNS-ICs) in iMLLr-B-ALL. Clinical data from the Interfant cohort of iMLLr-B-ALL demonstrated that high NG2 expression associates with lower event-free survival, higher number of circulating blasts and more frequent CNS disease/relapse. Serial xenotransplantation of primary MLL-AF4 + leukemias indicated that NG2 is a malleable marker that does not enrich for L-IC or CNS-IC in iMLLr-B-All. However, NG2 expression was highly upregulated in blasts infiltrating extramedullar hematopoietic sites and CNS, and specific blockage of NG2 resulted in almost complete loss of engraftment. Indeed, gene expression profiling of primary blasts and primografts revealed a migratory signature of NG2 + blasts. This study provides new insights on the biology of NG2 in iMLLr-B-ALL and suggests NG2 as a potential therapeutic target to reduce the risk of CNS disease/relapse and to provide safer CNS-directed therapies for iMLLr-B-ALL
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