3,067 research outputs found
What else can we do to prevent diabetic retinopathy?
Diabetic retinopathy; Modifiable risk factors; Neurovascular unitRetinopatía diabética; Factores de riesgo modificables; Unidad neurovascularRetinopatia diabètica; Factors de risc modificables; Unitat neurovascularThe classical modifiable factors associated with the onset and progression of diabetic retinopathy are the suboptimal control of blood glucose levels and hypertension, as well as dyslipidaemia. However, there are other less recognised modifiable factors that can play a relevant role, such as the presence of obesity or the abnormal distribution of adipose tissue, and others related to lifestyle such as the type of diet, vitamin intake, exercise, smoking and sunlight exposure. In this article we revisit the prevention of diabetic retinopathy based on modulating the modifiable risk factors, as well as commenting on the potential impact of glucose-lowering drugs on the condition. The emerging concept that neurodegeneration is an early event in the development of diabetic retinopathy points to neuroprotection as a potential therapeutic strategy to prevent the advanced stages of the disease. In this regard, the better phenotyping of very early stages of diabetic retinopathy and the opportunity of arresting its progression using treatments targeting the neurovascular unit (NVU) are discussed.Open Access Funding provided by Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona
An Analysis of the Influence of Students´ Technological Culture on Their Technology
decade has raised the interest among the research community on the acceptance and use of these systems by both teachers and students. At first, the implementation of LMS was based on their technical design and the adaptation of the learning processes to the virtual environment, neglecting students’ characteristics when the systems were deployed, which led to expensive and failing implementations. The Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) proposes a framework which allows the study of the acceptance and use of technology that takes into consideration the students’ characteristics and how they affect the acceptance and the degree of use of educational technology. This study questions the role of the user’s attitude towards use of LMS and uses the UTAUT to examine the moderating effect of technological culture in the adoption of LMS in Spain. The results from the comparison and analysis of three different models confirm the relevance of attitude towards use as an antecedent of intention to use the system, as well as the important moderating effect of gender and technological culture. The discussion of results suggests the need for a more in-depth analysis and interrelations of cultural dimensions in the adoption of educational technologies and learning management system
Structural properties of various sodium thiogermanate glasses through DFT-based molecular dynamics simulations
We present a study of the structural properties of (x)NaS-(1-x)GeS
glasses through DFT-based molecular dynamics simulations, at different sodium
concentrations (). We computed the radial pair correlation functions
as well as the total and partial structure factors. We also analyzed the
evolution of the corner- and edge-sharing intertetrahedral links with the
sodium concentration and show that the sodium ions exclusively destroy the
former. With the increase of the sodium concentration the ``standard'' FSDP
disappears and a new pre-peak appears in the structure factor which can be
traced back in the Na-Na partial structure factor. This self organization of
the sodium ions is coherent with Na-rich zones that we find at high modifier
concentration.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures; to be published in Phys. Rev.
La Real Academia Greco-Latina: un discurso griego en defensa de los estudios helénicos
After rewinding the helenic studies situation in the begining of the XIX century in Spain, we comment the origin and evolution of the "Academia Latina Matritense" up to become "Real Academia Greco-latina", its projects and activities, its more remarkable members -specially Saturnino Lozano-, to finish with the edition and the retoric-stilistical study of one of Saturnino Lozano's speech writen in greek defending the helenic language and its study
Gradual and Fuzzy Modules: Functor Categories
The categorical treatment of fuzzy modules presents some problems, due to the well known fact that the category of fuzzy modules is not abelian, and even not normal. Our aim is to give a representation of the category of fuzzy modules inside a generalized category of modules, in fact, a functor category, Mod-P, which is a Grothendieck category. To do that, first we consider the preadditive category P, defined by the interval P = (0,1], to build a torsionfree class J in Mod-P, and a hereditary torsion theory in Mod-P, to finally identify equivalence classes of fuzzy submodules of a module M with F-pair, which are pair (G, F), of decreasing gradual submodules of M, where G belongs to J, satisfying G = F-d, and U alpha F (alpha) is a disjoint union of F(1) and F(alpha)\G(alpha), where alpha is running in (0, 1].Programa Operativo FEDER 2014-2020 A-FQM-394-UGR20Consejeria de Economia, Conocimiento, Empresas y Universidad de la Junta de Andalucia (Spain
EUropean prospective cohort study on Enterobacteriaceae showing REsistance to CArbapenems (EURECA): a protocol of a European multicentre observational study
Introduction: The rapid worldwide spread of
carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE)
constitutes a major challenge. The aim of the EUropean
prospective cohort study on Enterobacteriaceae
showing REsistance to CArbapenems (EURECA), which
is part of the Innovative Medicines Initiative Joint
Undertaking (IMI JU) funded COMBACTE-CARE project,
is to investigate risk factors for and outcome
determinants of CRE infections to inform randomised
clinical trial designs and to provide a historical cohort
that could eventually be used for future comparisons
with new drugs targeting CRE.
Methods: A multicentre (50 sites), multinational
(11 European countries), analytical observational
project was designed, comprising 3 studies. The aims
of study 1 (a prospective cohort study) include
characterising the features, clinical management and
outcomes of hospitalised patients with intra-abdominal
infection, pneumonia, complicated urinary tract
infections and bloodstream infections caused by CRE
(202 patients in each group). The main outcomes will
be 30-day all-cause mortality and clinical response.
Study 2 (a nested case–control study) will identify
the risk factors for target infections caused by CRE;
248 selected patients from study 1 will be matched
with patients with carbapenem-susceptible
Enterobacteriaceae (1:1) and with hospitalised patients
(1:3) and will provide a historical cohort of patients
with CRE infections. Study 3 (a matched cohort study)
will follow patients in study 2 in order to assess
mortality, length of stay and hospital costs associated
with CRE. All patients will be followed for 30 days.
Different, up-to-date statistical methods will be applied
to come to unbiased estimates for all 3 studies.
Ethics and dissemination: Before-study sites will be
initiated, approval will be sought from appropriate
regulatory agencies and local Ethics Committees of
Research or Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) to
conduct the study in accordance with regulatory requirements. This is an observational study and
therefore no intervention in the diagnosis, management
or treatment of the patients will be required on behalf
of the investigation. Any formal presentation or
publication of data collected from this study will be
considered as a joint publication by the participating
physician(s) and will follow the recommendations of
the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors
(ICMJE) for authorship.Innovative Medicine Initiative (IMI)European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7)Spanish Network for Research in Infectious Diseases [REIPI RD12/0015, RD16/2016
Foeniculum sanguineum Triano y A. Pujadas (Apiaceae) nueva especie del suroeste de la Región Mediterránea
Foeniculum sanguineum Triano & A. Pujadas, sp. nov., from the south western Mediterranean Region (Spain & Morocco) is described. Its characterization and a comparative study with the related species Foeniculum vulgare Mill., has been carried out through morphological, cytological, chemical and molecular analysis. F. sanguineum is distinguished primarily for its red petals, pink pollen in fresh, and red stylopod. It is a diploid species (2n= 22). A high proportion of limonene and piperitenone oxide (absent in F. vulgare) has been found in the essential oil composition of the dry fruits of F. sanguineum and a high amount (about 50 %) of α-phellandrene in its roots and stems. Phylogenetic analyses were performed using the internal transcribed spacer sequences of nuclear ribosomal DNA (ITS) and the chloroplast rbcL gene sequences. ITS analysis supports the existence of the new species, while revealing sequence divergence both at the intraspecific and at the interspecific levels. A Single-nucleotide-polymorphism (SNP) sequence divergence found in the slow evolving chloroplast gene provided additional support for the novel species characterization, for which the name Foeniculum sanguineum is proposed
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