Introduction to cross LAK 2016: Learning analytics across spaces

For the LAK (Learning Analytics and Knowledge) community, it is highly important to pay attention to the development and deployment of learning analytics solutions for blended learning scenarios where students work at diverse digital and physical learning spaces and interact in different modalities. This workshop has been a first attempt in gathering the sub-community of LAK researchers, learning scientists and researchers from other communities, interested in ubiquitous, mobile and/or face-to-face learning analytics. It was clear for all the attendees that a key concern that has not been deeply explored yet is associated with the mechanisms to integrate and coordinate learning analytics to provide continued support to learning across digital and physical spaces. The two main goals of the workshop were to share perspectives and identify a set of guidelines that could be offered to teachers, researchers or designers to create and connect Learning Analytics solutions according to the pedagogical needs and contextual constraints to provide support across digital and physical learning spaces

Long-Term Safety of Tedizolid in a Patient With Spondilodiscitis After Switch From Linezolid Due to Toxicity

The patient is a 57-year-old man with liver cirrhosis, Bricker anastomosis after a radical cystoprostatectomy and, a history of bacteremias caused by extended-spectrum -lactamase-positive Escherichia coli, Enterococcus faecium, and Candida albicans. He presented with persistent low back pain and was diagnosed with vertebral osteomyelitis, for which he received ertapenem-linezolid treatment. However, after 20 days, linezolid had to be discontinued because of myelotoxicity and metabolic acidosis. The patient was switched to tedizolid, which, in combination with ertapenem, was successfully given for 114 days until biopsy showed no growth of gram-positive cocci. We conclude that tedizolid can be an alternative to linezolid in case of toxicity, especially in long-term treatments

VP20.12 : Lymphangioma : fetal neck mass, delivery of pregnancy through EXIT technique – case report, University Hospital San Ignacio (HUSI)

Q1Lymphangioma is a rare type of benign tumour, caused by a lack of development of the lymphatic's system components. This malformation is an accumulation of fluid mainly located in the posterolateral region of the neck in 75% of cases, followed by armpit 20%, mediastinum 1%, abdominal organs, mesenteric retroperitoneal in 2–3% & bone, lower limbs in 2%. This develops in the second and third trimester. It could be aggressive due to the infiltration in adjacent tissues or closer organs, additionally, it could be associated with chromosomal abnormalities or other malformations, basically, the prognosis depends weather it is present or not. In isolated forms, these tumours have a good prognosis. In cases where the malformation is found on the neck in the first trimester, the assessment, behaviour, name, management and etiology could be different and it is called increased NT. The prenatal management includes serial ultrasound in maternal-fetal unit, karyotyping, MRI to see the level of infiltration and the associated airway obstruction, and multidisciplinary team experienced in airways management. In cases of cervical lymphangiomas, the gestation delivery should be done by a Caesarean section (CS) with an EXIT technique in order to guarantee the fetal airway before separation of the maternal-fetal circulation. it is imperative to set up the procedure through a multidisciplinary team meeting, in order to assign each of the roles in surgery and to know the additional materials or procedures in accordance with the fetal airway compromise. In this case the diagnosis was confirmed by maternal medicine team as a cervical lymphangioma in the HUSI in Bogotá through US performed on the 34.5 week. Additionally, we used an MRI to assess the fetal airway and after words we booked meetings with an interdisciplinary team with the objective of planning the procedures and materials required during the delivery through a CS with an EXIT technique, following the institutional protocols.Revista Internacional - Indexad

Plasma irisin depletion under energy restriction is associated with improvements in lipid profile in metabolic syndrome patients

OBJECTIVE: A recently discovered myokine, irisin, may have an important role in energy metabolism. This study aimed to evaluate the relationship between this hormone and the lipid profile of patients with metabolic syndrome (MetS) following a hypocaloric diet. DESIGN: Ninety-three Caucasian adults (52 men/41 women) diagnosed with MetS followed an 8-week-long energy-restricted programme (-30% of the energy requirements). Anthropometric measurements, biochemical markers and plasma irisin levels were analysed before and after the nutritional intervention. RESULTS: Global plasma irisin levels were significantly reduced at the end of the study (-72.0 +/- 100.9 ng/ml, P < 0.001) accompanying the weight loss (-6.9%). The depletion of irisin significantly correlated with changes in some atherogenic-related variables: total cholesterol (B = 0.106, P = 0.018), total cholesterol/high-density lipoprotein cholesterol ratio (B = 0.002, P = 0.036), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (B = 0.085, P = 0.037) and apolipoprotein B (B = 0.052, P = 0.002), independently of changes in body weight. CONCLUSIONS: An association between the reduction in plasma irisin levels and the depletion of important lipid metabolism biomarkers was observed in patients with MetS undergoing an energy-restricted programme

Intercellular Trafficking of Gold Nanostars in Uveal Melanoma Cells for Plasmonic Photothermal Therapy

Efficient plasmonic photothermal therapies (PPTTs) using non-harmful pulse laser irradiation at the near-infrared (NIR) are a highly sought goal in nanomedicine. These therapies rely on the use of plasmonic nanostructures to kill cancer cells while minimizing the applied laser power density. Cancer cells have an unsettled capacity to uptake, retain, release, and re-uptake gold nanoparticles, thus offering enormous versatility for research. In this work, we have studied such cell capabilities for nanoparticle trafficking and its impact on the effect of photothermal treatments. As our model system, we chose uveal (eye) melanoma cells, since laser-assisted eye surgery is routinely used to treat glaucoma and cataracts, or vision correction in refractive surgery. As nanostructure, we selected gold nanostars (Au NSs) due to their high photothermal efficiency at the near-infrared (NIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. We first investigated the photothermal effect on the basis of the dilution of Au NSs induced by cell division. Using this approach, we obtained high PPTT efficiency after several cell division cycles at an initial low Au NS concentration (pM regime). Subsequently, we evaluated the photothermal effect on account of cell division upon mixing Au NS-loaded and non-loaded cells. Upon such mixing, we observed trafficking of Au NSs between loaded and non-loaded cells, thus achieving effective PPTT after several division cycles under low irradiation conditions (below the maximum permissible exposure threshold of skin). Our study reveals the ability of uveal melanoma cells to release and re-uptake Au NSs that maintain their plasmonic photothermal properties throughout several cell division cycles and re-uptake. This approach may be readily extrapolated to real tissue and even to treat in situ the eye tumor itself. We believe that our method can potentially be used as co-therapy to disperse plasmonic gold nanostructures across affected tissues, thus increasing the effectiveness of classic PPTT

Higher baseline irisin concentrations are associated with greater reductions in glycemia and insulinemia after weight loss in obese subjects

Irisin is assumed to be a relevant link between muscle and weight maintenance as well as to mediate exercise benefits on health. The aim of this study was to assess the possible associations between irisin levels and glucose homeostasis in obese subjects with metabolic syndrome (MetS) following an energy-restricted treatment. Ninety-six adults with excessive body weight and MetS features underwent a hypocaloric dietary pattern for 8 weeks, within the RESMENA randomized controlled trial (www.clinicaltrials.gov; NCT01087086). After the intervention, dietary restriction significantly reduced body weight and evidenced a dietary-induced decrease in circulating levels of irisin in parallel with improvements on glucose homeostasis markers. Interestingly, participants with higher irisin values at baseline (above the median) showed a greater reduction on glucose (P=0.022) and insulin (P=0.021) concentrations as well as on the homeostasis model assessment index (P=0.008) and triglycerides (P=0.006) after the dietary intervention, compared with those presenting low-irisin baseline values (below the median). Interestingly, a positive correlation between irisin and carbohydrate intake was found at the end of the experimental period. In conclusion, irisin appears to be involved in glucose metabolism regulation after a dietary-induced weight loss

Effectiveness and costs of phototest in dementia and cognitive impairment screening

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>To assess and compare the effectiveness and costs of Phototest, Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Memory Impairment Screen (MIS) to screen for dementia (DEM) and cognitive impairment (CI).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A phase III study was conducted over one year in consecutive patients with suspicion of CI or DEM at four Primary Care (PC) centers. After undergoing all screening tests at the PC center, participants were extensively evaluated by researchers blinded to screening test results in a Cognitive-Behavioral Neurology Unit (CBNU). The gold standard diagnosis was established by consensus of expert neurologists. Effectiveness was assessed by the proportion of correct diagnoses (diagnostic accuracy [DA]) and by the kappa index of concordance between test results and gold standard diagnoses. Costs were based on public prices and hospital accounts.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The study included 140 subjects (48 with DEM, 37 with CI without DEM, and 55 without CI). The MIS could not be applied to 23 illiterate subjects (16.4%). For DEM, the maximum effectiveness of the MMSE was obtained with different cutoff points as a function of educational level [k = 0.31 (95% Confidence interval [95%CI], 0.19-0.43), DA = 0.60 (95%CI, 0.52-0.68)], and that of the MIS with a cutoff of 3/4 [k = 0.63 (95%CI, 0.48-0.78), DA = 0.83 (95%CI, 0.80-0.92)]. Effectiveness of the Phototest [k = 0.71 (95%CI, 0.59-0.83), DA = 0.87 (95%CI, 0.80-0.92)] was similar to that of the MIS and higher than that of the MMSE. Costs were higher with MMSE (275.9 ± 193.3€ [mean ± sd euros]) than with Phototest (208.2 ± 196.8€) or MIS (201.3 ± 193.4€), whose costs did not significantly differ. For CI, the effectiveness did not significantly differ between MIS [k = 0.59 (95%CI, 0.45-0.74), DA = 0.79 (95%CI, 0.64-0.97)] and Phototest [k = 0.58 (95%CI, 0.45-0.74), DA = 0.78 (95%CI, 0.64-0.95)] and was lowest for the MMSE [k = 0.27 (95%CI, 0.09-0.45), DA = 0.69 (95%CI, 0.56-0.84)]. Costs were higher for MMSE (393.4 ± 121.8€) than for Phototest (287.0 ± 197.4€) or MIS (300.1 ± 165.6€), whose costs did not significantly differ.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>MMSE is not an effective instrument in our setting. For both DEM and CI, the Phototest and MIS are more effective and less costly, with no difference between them. However, MIS could not be applied to the appreciable percentage of our population who were illiterate.</p

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the care of cancer patients in Spain

Background: Studies evaluating the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public healthcare systems are limited, particularly in cancer management. As no such studies have been carried out in Spain, our objective is to describe and quantify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer patients in Spanish hospitals during the first wave of the pandemic. Materials and methods: This retrospective, multicenter, nationwide study collected information from hospital departments treating oncology patients. An electronic questionnaire comparing outcomes and management of oncohematological patients for the March-June 2019 and March-June 2020 periods was used. Results: Information from 78 departments (36 tertiary hospitals) was analyzed. Forty-four departments implemented adapted protocols during March 2020. Most of these (n = 38/44; 86.4%) carried out COVID-19 triage, while 26 of 44 (59.1%) carried out onsite polymerase chain reaction tests for clinically suspected cases. A shift from in-person to telephone visits was observed in 43 of 44 (97.7%) departments. Comparing the March-June 2019 and March-June 2020 periods, the number of new patients decreased by 20.8% (from 160.2 to 126.4). Decreases were also seen in the mean number of total (2858.2 versus 1686.1) and cancer (465.5 versus 367.2) biopsies, as well as the mean number of bone marrow biopsies (30.5 versus 18.6). Concerning the number of patients visiting specific cancer care departments, a decrease from 2019 to 2020 was seen for mean number of chemotherapy treatments (712.7 versus 643.8) and radiation therapy (2169.9 versus 2139.9). Finally, a reduction from 2019 to 2020 of 12.9% (from 8.6 to 7.4) in the mean number of patients included in clinical trials was noted. Conclusions: This study provides the first comprehensive data concerning the impact of COVID-19 on cancer care in Spain. The pandemic caused a 20.8% decrease in newly diagnosed patients, which may impact future outcomes. Measures must be taken to ensure cancer management receives priority in times of healthcare emergencies

Diphenyl Urea Derivatives as Inhibitors of Transketolase: A Structure-Based Virtual Screening

Transketolase is an enzyme involved in a critical step of the non-oxidative branch of the pentose phosphate pathway whose inhibition could lead to new anticancer drugs. Here, we report new human transketolase inhibitors, based on the phenyl urea scaffold, found by applying structure-based virtual screening. These inhibitors are designed to cover a hot spot in the dimerization interface of the homodimer of the enzyme, providing for the first time compounds with a suggested novel binding mode not based on mimicking the thiamine pyrophosphate cofactor

Superconducting Magnetization above the Irreversibility Line in Tl2Ba2CuO6

Piezolever torque magnetometry has been used to measure the magnetization of superconducting Tl2Ba2CuO6. Three crystals with different levels of oxygen overdoping were investigated in magnetic fields up to 10 Tesla. In all cases, the magnetization above the irreversibility line was found to depart from the behaviour M ~ ln(Hc2/H) of a simple London-like vortex liquid. In particular, for a strongly overdoped (Tc = 15K) crystal, the remnant superconducting order above the irreversibility line is characterized by a linear diamagnetic response (M ~ H) that persists well above Tc and also up to the highest field employed.Comment: RevTeX, 11 pages, 7 encapsulated PostScript figures, submitted to Physical Review