Eficacia de la asociación dipirona-meperidina en disminuir la necesidad de opioide en dolor agudo posterior a cirugía abdominal

ABSTRACTIntroductionThe main concern of patients who undergo surgery is postoperative pain, for which opioids are the most common medication used even though their side effects limit their use. In Colombia, pain is managed by general practitioners or surgeons who mainly use dipyrone with suboptimal results. A safe alternative with minimal side effects could be the addition of meperidine to dipyrone which could be used by non specialists.ObjectiveTo determine if the addition of meperidine to dipyrone decreases in 50 % the opioid requirements to achieve an effective postoperative pain management.MethodsA controlled clinical trial with 107 patients distributed in two groups was performed. The study group received 0.5mg per kilogram of meperidine plus 2.5g of dipyrone (n = 57), and the control group received the usual dose of 1mg per kilogram of meperidine (n = 50). Postoperative pain was assessed with the visual analog scale (VAS).ResultsThe incidence of acute postoperative pain was 28 % in the study group and 26.3 % in the control group. The relative risk (RR) was higher in the study group (RR = 1.06; confidence interval 95 % 0.57-1.98), without difference between them. The incidence of side effects had a higher RR in the control group with a significant difference (p = 0.0055).ConclusionsThe combination of dipyrone and meperidine allows a 50 % reduction in the need of opioid with lesser side effects. However, postoperative pain was not effectively controlled

Model and neural control of the depth of anesthesia during surgery

At present, the experimentation of anesthetic drugs on patients requires a regulation protocol, and the response of each patient to several doses of entry drug must be well known. Therefore, the development of pharmacological dose control systems is a promising field of research in anesthesiology. In this paper it has been developed a non-linear compartmental pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamical model which describes the anesthesia depth effect on a sufficiently reliable way over a set of patients with the depth effect quantified by the Bi-Spectral Index. Afterwards, an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) predictive controller has been designed based on the depth of anesthesia model so as to keep the patient on the optimum condition while he undergoes surgical treatment. For the purpose of quantifying the efficiency of the neural predictive controller, a classical proportional-integral-derivative controller has also been developed to compare both strategies. Results show the superior performance of predictive neural controller during Bi- Spectral Index reference tracking.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Two-Level Systems and Boson Peak Remain Stable in 110-Million-Year-Old Amber Glass

The two most prominent and ubiquitous features of glasses at low temperatures, namely the presence of tunneling two-level systems and the so-called boson peak in the reduced vibrational density of states, are shown to persist essentially unchanged in highly stabilized glasses, contrary to what was usually envisaged. Specifically, we have measured the specific heat of 110 million-year-old amber samples from El Soplao (Spain), both at very low temperatures and around the glass transition Tg. In particular, the amount of two-level systems, assessed at the lowest temperatures, was surprisingly found to be exactly the same for the pristine hyperaged amber as for the, subsequently, partially and fully rejuvenated samples.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables (including Supplementary Material

combining First Principles with deep neural networks

JP acknowledges PhD grant SFRD/BD14610472019, This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement no 101000733 (PROMICON).Numerous studies have reported the use of hybrid semiparametric systems that combine shallow neural networks with First Principles for bioprocess modeling. Here we revisit the general bioreactor hybrid model and introduce some deep learning techniques. Multi-layer networks with varying depths were combined with First Principles equations in the form of deep hybrid models. Deep learning techniques, namely the adaptive moment estimation method (ADAM), stochastic regularization and depth-dependent weights initialization were evaluated in a hybrid modeling context. Modified sensitivity equations are proposed for the computation of gradients in order to reduce CPU time for the training of deep hybrid models. The methods are illustrated with applications to a synthetic dataset and a pilot 50 L MUT+ Pichia pastoris process expressing a single chain antibody fragment. All in all, the results point to a systematic generalization improvement of deep hybrid models over its shallow counterpart. Moreover, the CPU cost to train the deep hybrid models is shown to be lower than for the shallow counterpart. In the pilot 50L MUT+ Pichia pastoris data set, the prediction accuracy was increased by 18.4% and the CPU decreased by 43.4%.publishersversionpublishe

Evaluación preliminar de condensadores de rocío y su utilización para riego de plántulas de árboles en Puerto Rico

Dew condensers have been proposed as a means to reduce drought mortality of tree seedlings in early stages of reforestation projects. We investigated the amount of dew condensate produced by locally constructed dew condensers, constructed with three different infrared emitting surfaces: standard polyethylene/ TiO2 / BaSO4 foil, thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), and plastic coated with locally available Lanco UrethanizerTM8 roofing paint. All surfaces produced similar amounts of total dew condensate, typically ranging between 0.05 and 0.25 L/m2/night. However, the materials differed in the fraction of dew running off the surfaces, which represents the water available for tree seedlings. Highest runoff fractions were obtained with painted surfaces, followed by polyethylene and polyolefin surfaces, respectively. Considerably greater amounts of nightly dew condensate were observed during the winter than in summer, attributed to differences in night length and cloud cover. A commercially available dew condenser, the Groasis WaterboxxTM, did not generate more than 0.04 L per night of runoff dew, due primarily to a small condenser surface area of < 0.2 m2. A field study showed that 1 m2 dew condensers maintained the root zone of mahogany seedlings at matric potentials > -60 kPa during dry spells. Overall, results indicated that passive dew condensers with condenser areas of 1 m2 are capable of producing sufficient water for survival of small tree seedlings during drought periods.Los condensadores de rocío se han propuesto como mecanismo para proveer agua a plántulas de árboles en etapas iniciales de reforestación. Se investigó el potencial de condensadores de fabricación local para producir agua. Se compararon condensadores construidos con tres diferentes superficies emisoras en infrarrojo: lámina estándar de polietileno impregnado con TiO2 y BaSO4, poli-olefina termoplástica (TPO), y plástico recubierto con pintura Lanco UrethanizerTM disponible en ferreterías locales. Todas las superficies produjeron cantidades similares de condensado total de rocío, por lo general entre 0.05 y 0.25 L /m2/noche. Sin embargo, los materiales variaron en la fracción del condensado escurrido desde las superficies, lo cual representa el agua disponible para las plántulas. Las fracciones de escorrentía más altas se obtuvieron con las superficies pintadas, seguido por las superficies de polietileno y de poli-olefina, respectivamente. Las cantidades de condensado durante el invierno fueron mayores que en verano, probablemente debido a noches más largas y menor nubosidad en invierno. Se evaluó el volumen de rocío (escorrentía) producido por un modelo comercial de condensador de rocío, el Groasis WaterboxxTM. Este nunca superó 0.04 L por noche, atribuido principalmente a la pequeña área de superficie (< 0.2 m2) del condensador. Un experimento de campo mostró que condensadores de rocío de 1 m2 mantuvieron el potencial matricial de agua en la zona de raíces de plántulas de caoba en valores > -60 kPa durante periodos de sequía. En general, los resultados indicaron que los condensadores de rocío con áreas superficiales de 1 m2 producen suficiente agua para la supervivencia de pequeñas plántulas de árboles

An instrumental puzzle: the modular integration of AOLI

The Adaptive Optics Lucky Imager, AOLI, is an instrument developed to deliver the highest spatial resolution ever obtained in the visible, 20 mas, from ground-based telescopes. In AOLI a new philosophy of instrumental prototyping has been applied, based on the modularization of the subsystems. This modular concept offers maximum flexibility regarding the instrument, telescope or the addition of future developments.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figures, Proc. SPIE 9908, Ground-based and Airborne Instrumentation for Astronomy VI, 99082Z (August 9, 2016