Rotura bilateral de tendón cuadricipital asociado a tratamiento con atorvastatina.

La rotura del tendón del cuádriceps es una lesión relativamente poco frecuente. Puede asociarse a enfermedades sistémicas, trasplante renal, tratamientos crónicos u ocurrir de forma espontánea. Presentamos un caso de rotura bilateral de cuádriceps asociada a tratamiento crónico con atorvastatina.Quadriceps tendon rupture is a relatively rare lesion. It has been associated with chronic systemic diseases, renal transplantation or it may occur spontaneously. We present a case of bilateral quadriceps tendon rupture associated with chronic atorvastatin treatment

Infrared Investigation of the Charge Ordering Pattern in the Organic Spin Ladder Candidate (DTTTF)2Cu(mnt)2

We measured the variable temperature infrared response of the spin ladder candidate (DTTTF)2Cu(mnt)2 in order to distinguish between two competing ladder models, rectangular versus zigzag, proposed for this family of materials. The distortion along the stack direction below 235 K is consistent with a doubling along b through the metal-insulator transition. While this would agree with either of the ladder models, the concomitant transverse distortion rules out the rectangular ladder model and supports the zigzag scenario. Intramolecular distortions within the DTTTF building block molecule also give rise to on-site charge asymmetry.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to Solid State Science

Micromegas detector developments for MIMAC

The aim of the MIMAC project is to detect non-baryonic Dark Matter with a directional TPC. The recent Micromegas efforts towards building a large size detector will be described, in particular the characterization measurements of a prototype detector of 10 $\times$ 10 cm$^2$ with a 2 dimensional readout plane. Track reconstruction with alpha particles will be shown.Comment: 8 pages, 7 figures Proceedings of the 3rd International conference on Directional Detection of Dark Matter (CYGNUS 2011), Aussois, France, 8-10 June 2011; corrections on author affiliation

On the protection of extrasolar Earth-like planets around K/M stars against galactic cosmic rays

Previous studies have shown that extrasolar Earth-like planets in close-in habitable zones around M-stars are weakly protected against galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), leading to a strongly increased particle flux to the top of the planetary atmosphere. Two main effects were held responsible for the weak shielding of such an exoplanet: (a) For a close-in planet, the planetary magnetic moment is strongly reduced by tidal locking. Therefore, such a close-in extrasolar planet is not protected by an extended magnetosphere. (b) The small orbital distance of the planet exposes it to a much denser stellar wind than that prevailing at larger orbital distances. This dense stellar wind leads to additional compression of the magnetosphere, which can further reduce the shielding efficiency against GCRs. In this work, we analyse and compare the effect of (a) and (b), showing that the stellar wind variation with orbital distance has little influence on the cosmic ray shielding. Instead, the weak shielding of M star planets can be attributed to their small magnetic moment. We further analyse how the planetary mass and composition influence the planetary magnetic moment, and thus modify the cosmic ray shielding efficiency. We show that more massive planets are not necessarily better protected against galactic cosmic rays, but that the planetary bulk composition can play an important role.Comment: 7 figure

Prevalence of vertebral fractures and their prognostic significance in the survival in patients with chronic kidney disease stages 3-5 not on dialysis

The prevalence of vertebral fractures (VF) and their association with clinical risk factors and outcomes are poorly documented in chronic kidney disease (CKD) cohorts. The aim of the study was to evaluate the prevalence of VF in patients with non-dialysis dependent CKD (NDD-CKD), their value in predicting mortality and its correlation with parameters of bone mineral metabolism and vascular calcification. 612 NDD 3-5 stage CKD patients participating in the OSERCE-2 study, a prospective, multicenter, cohort study, were prospectively evaluated and categorized into two groups according to presence or absence of VF at enrollment. VF were assessed with lateral radiographs and Genant semi-quantitative method was applied. Three radiologists specialized in musculoskeletal radiology performed consensual reading of individual images obtained using a Raim DICOM Viewer and a Canon EOS 350 camera to measure with Java Image software in those who had traditional acetate X-ray. Factors related to VF were assessed by logistic regression analysis. Association between VF and death over a 3-year follow-up was assessed by Kaplan-Meier survival curves and Cox-proportional hazard models. VF were detected in 110patients(18%). Serumphosphatelevels(OR0.719,95%CI0.532to0.972,p = 0.032),ankle-brachial index 3 and serum phosphate, the presence of VF (HR 1.983, 95% CI 1.009-3.898, p = 0.047) were an independent predictor of all-cause mortality. In our study 18% of patients with NDD-CKD have VF. Factors associated with VF were age, low serum phosphate levels and peripheral vascular disease. The presence of VF was an independent risk factor for mortality in stages 3-5 NDD-CKD patients. Clinical trials are needed to confirm whether this relationship is causal and reversible with treatment for osteoporosis

Determinación de la permitividad y conductividad eléctricas a la frecuencia de microondas de varios tejidos de rata tratadas con cadmio

and conductivity (s) in several rat tissue, control and treated with cadmio (Cd), applying electromagnetic fields of radiofrequency and to check if these parameters can be used as indicators of cadmium toxicity and presence in the environment in certain organs. There are used two groups of male Wistar rats, a control group and the one treated with cadmium (CdClz), with twelve single intraperitoneal increasing doses from 0,1 to 1 mg Cd/Kg rat/day. After blood extraction under ether anesthesia the animals died and several biochemical and haematological parameteres are analyzed. The dissected organs are: brain cortex, testes, kidney, liver, pancreas, Iungseand muscle, which are submitted to determine the e and o, measuring the reflection and transmission, complex coefficients of these biological samples at the industrial frequency of 2.45 GHz. This frequency is included in the range of microwave frequencies. The reflection and transmission coefficients are measured with a network analyzer. We use a HP HFSS simulator that determines the permittivity of a tissue that would produce the same values for reflection and transmission coefficients obtained experimentally. Results show that in liver and kidney there is a decrease in the e and (J compared to the controls. The changes in the kidney can be explained because the renal cortex is the major target tissue for cadmium toxicity, prqvoking proximal tubular disfunction. In liver, cadmium also accumulates inducing hepatic damage, with an increase of both transaminases in serum and the decrease of the structural integrity of hepatocytes. Blood analysis show that cadmium induces an anaemic state, with a de crease in hemoglobin and hematocrite values in comparison to thecontrols.Los campos electromagnéticos ambientales cada vez más presentes en el entorno, pueden afectar a los propios seres humanos y, según su intensidad (magnetoterapia), activar o modular procesos fisiológicos o inducir a posibles patologías. En este trabajo se pretende determinar las características fisicoquímicas (los parámetros permitividad (e) y conductividad eléctrica