An Active helideck testbed for floating structures based on a Stewart-Gough platform

A parallel robot testbed based on Stewart-Gough platform called Active-helideck is designed, developed and tested as a helicopter floating helideck. The objective of this testbed is to show the advantages of helicopters that use an active helideck upon landing on and taking off from ships or from offshore structures. Active-helideck compensates simulated movements of a ship at sea. The main goal of this study is to maintain the robot’s end effector (helideck) in a quasi-static position in accordance to an absolute inertial frame. Compensation is carried out through the coordinate action of its six prismatic actuators in function of an inertial measurement unit. Moreover, the simulation of the sea movement is done by a parallel robot called ship platform with three degrees of freedom. The ship platform is built with a vertical oscillation along the z axis, i.e. heave, and rotates on remaining axes, i.e. roll and pitch. Active helideck is able to compensate simulated movements by considering the ship as an inertial frame as observed in the experiment

Bone mineral metabolism in patients with chronic kidney disease on dialysis in southern metropolitan santiago Caracterización del metabolismo óseo mineral en pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica en hemodiálisis en el servicio de salud metropolitano sur,

© 2015, Sociedad Medica de Santiago. All rights reserved.Background: Chronic Kidney Disease-Mineral and Bone Disorder (CKDMBD) is a condition of dialysis patients associated with both morbidity and mortality. Management is based on clinical guidelines with goals that are hard to comply with. Aim: To describe and compare biochemical variables associated with this disorder in two different time periods. Material and Methods: Revision of medical records of 814 patients (49% females) dialyzed during 2009 and 1018 patients (48% females), dialyzed during 2012 in Southern Metropolitan Santiago. Information about serum calcium, phosphorus, parathyroid hormone (PTH) and albumin was retrieved. Results: Median PTH values in 2009 and 2012 were 222.5 and 353.5 pg/ml respectively (p < 0.05). The figures for serum calcium corrected by albumin were 9.0 and 8.5 mg/dl respectively (p < 0.05). The figures for phosphorus were 4.7 and 5.0 mg/dl respectively (p < 0.05). The Calcium x Phosphorus product wa

Teoría de la educación : educación y cultura en la sociedad de la información

Monográfico con el título: 'Robótica educativa'. Resumen basado en el de la publicaciónSe presenta y analiza la 'robótica educativa' como una herramienta de apoyo al proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje, orientada principalmente a asignaturas complejas como las matemáticas, la física y la informática, entre otras. El estudio se limita a los colegios de Educación Secundaria de la provincia de Chiriquí, República de Panamá. El objetivo principal del proyecto fue demostrar como la robótica aplicada a la educación, facilita y motiva la enseñanza-aprendizaje de las ciencias y las tecnologías. Los resultados demostraron que la robótica se puede convertir en una herramienta excelente para comprender conceptos abstractos y complejos en asignaturas del área de las ciencias y las tecnologías. El uso de la robótica también permite desarrollar competencias básicas tales como el trabajo en equipo y la destreza lógico-matemática tanto para alumnos como para docentes.Castilla y LeónES

ENGIU: Encuentro Nacional de Grupos de Investigación de UNIMINUTO.

El desarrollo del prototipo para el sistema de detección de Mina Antipersona (MAP), inicia desde el semillero ADSSOF perteneciente al programa de Administración en Seguridad y Salud en el trabajo de la UNIMINUTO, se realiza a partir de un detector de metales que emite una señal audible, que el usuario puede interpretar como aviso de presencia de un objeto metálico, en este caso una MAP. La señal audible se interpreta como un dato, como ese dato no es perceptible a 5 metros de distancia, se implementa el transmisor de Frecuencia Modulada FM por la facilidad de modulación y la escogencia de frecuencia de transmisión de acuerdo con las normas y resolución del Ministerio de Comunicaciones; de manera que esta sea la plataforma base para enviar los datos obtenidos a una frecuencia establecida. La idea es que el ser humano no explore zonas peligrosas y buscar la forma de crear un sistema que permita eliminar ese riesgo, por otro lado, buscar la facilidad de uso de elementos ya disponibles en el mercado

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Summary: Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low- and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially