VULVODINIA: UN DIAGNÓSTICO OLVIDADO FRENTE AL DOLOR VULVAR

La vulvodinia es una patología compleja y de difícil tratamiento. Se define como un dolor crónico de la vulva, que puede ser generalizado o localizado. La primera vez que se escribe sobre esta fue en 1889, por Skene. Sin embargo, es sólo hasta 1976, que los miembros de la International Society for Study of Vulvovaginal Diseases, reconocieron el dolor vulvar como una entidad patológica. Se estima una prevalencia de un 15%, con unas 14 millones de mujeres que lo padecen en EEUU. Generalmente consultan múltiples veces y a diferentes médicos, antes de llegar a un diagnóstico. No existen pruebas específicas, por lo que la clínica y el examen físico son las principales herramientas. Se deben excluir todas aquellas patologías que explican este dolor crónico vulvar. Su etiología es multifactorial, involucrando cambios a nivel de nociceptores, alteraciones de la inervación y la presencia de factores inflamatorios. Sin embargo, no podemos dejar de lado los aspectos psicosexuales, que pueden modular o desencadenar el dolor vulvar, al encontrar un sustrato alterado a nivel de estos tejidos. Basándose en estos aspectos, hoy existen diferentes tratamientos, que son efectivos si los utilizamos asociados y en forma gradual, ya que se potencian entre ellos

Application of Optimization Procedure to the Management of Renewable Based Household Heating & Cooling Systems

Abstract Renewable heating and cooling systems are cited in the European policy as one of the major means for the decarbonisation of the energy sector. At the household level the main source of renewable energy is represented by solar energy. This energy can be collected and used in the electric or thermal form and more than often its efficient exploitation requires the use of storage facilities. Starting from the previous statements a household heating and cooling system can contain several components whose control and coordination is not easy to handle due to the load variations through the year and during the day, to the weather conditions etc. Simulation and optimization of the energy structure is very helpful in this task because it can provide a commitment of the power flows that ensures the minimal system operational cost together with the satisfaction of load requirements. An optimization procedure based on mixed integer linear programming has been developed and applied to evaluate several household configurations for a location in Northern Italy. Obtained results are compared and assessed in terms of economical saving in system running and of share of renewable energy

Vaginosis citolítica: un diagnóstico diferencial poco frecuente de vulvovaginitis micótica a repetición

Indexación: ScieloResumen: Los síntomas compatibles con vaginitis y vaginosis, son la causa más frecuente de consulta al ginecólogo. La descarga vaginal abundante y el prurito, constituyen la primera sospecha de estas patologías. Sin embargo, debemos tener presente que el aumento significativo de lactobacilos, conocido como lactobacilosis, puede expresarse también con los mismos síntomas y signos de una vulvovaginitis micótica. Si esta condición se mantiene en el tiempo, puede provocar un grado de acidez anormal en la vagina, y puede llevar a una lisis de las células epiteliales que se conoce como vaginosis citolítica. Este diagnóstico, aunque es poco frecuente, debemos sospecharlo especialmente, en aquellas mujeres que relatan tener múltiples consultas por candidiasis vaginal, con escasa o nula respuesta frente a la terapia antimicótica.Summary: The symptoms consistent with vaginitis and vaginosis are the most common cause of the visit to the gynecologist. Heavy vaginal discharge and pruritus are the first suspicion of this pathology. However, the significant increase in lactobacilli, known as lactobacilosis can be expressed also with the same symptoms and signs of a fungal vulvovaginitis. If this condition is maintained overtime, can cause abnormal acidity in the vagina, and may lead to epithelial cell lysis, which is known as cytolytic vaginosis. This diagnosis, although rare, should be suspected especially in women who reported having multiple consultations for vaginal candidiasis, with little or no response to antifungal therapy.http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-75262010000300009&nrm=is

Tumores adenomatoides uterinos: estudio anatomo-patológico e inmunohistoquímico de 32 casos

Indexación: ScieloAntecedentes: Los tumores adenomatoides (TA) son poco frecuentes. Se encuentran principalmente en el aparato reproductor femenino y especialmente en el útero. No existen reportes a nivel nacional sobre estos. Objetivos: Describir las características histológicas e inmunohistoquímicas de los TA uterinos. Método: Estudio descriptivo de 32 muestras ingresadas al Servicio de Anatomía Patológica de Clínica Las Condes. Las muestras estudiadas fueron recopiladas entre noviembre de 1999 y noviembre de 2008. Resultados: El diagnóstico de TA fue realizado en 21 histerectomías y 11 miomectomías. En 14 casos se diagnosticaron como lesiones nodulares únicas (43,8%) y en 18 junto a leiomiomas (56,2%). El tamaño promedio de las lesiones únicas fue 2,6 cm, significativamente mayor que aquellas asociadas a leiomiomas. El patrón histológico predominante más frecuente correspondió al tipo angiomatoide (81,3%), seguido por los patrones adenoide (9,4%), sólido (6,3%) y mixto (3%), no se encontraron TA quísticos. El estudio inmunohistoquími-co fue positivo en el 100% de los casos para citoqueratina AE1/AE3, calrretinina, vimentina y D2-40. Fue negativo para CD31 y CEA. Sólo un 6,3% (2 casos) fue positivo para citoqueratina 5/6. Conclusiones: Los TA corresponden a tumores benignos de origen mesotelial. Generalmente su diagnóstico es un hallazgo. Al presentarse en el útero, se confunden generalmente con leiomiomas o se presentan en conjunto con estos. En base a lo anterior el tratamiento de estas lesiones debe ser conservador, bastando con la resección del tumor.Background: The adenomatoid tumors (AT) are rare. They are found mainly in the female reproductive system and especially in the uterus. There is not national reporting on these. Objective: To describe the his-tological and immunohistochemical features of uterine AT. Method: Descriptive study of 32 patients admitíed to the Pathology Department of Clinica Las Condes. The cases studied were collected between November 1999 and November 2008. Results: The diagnosis of AT was performed in 21 hysterectomies and 11 myomectomies. In 14 patients were diagnosed as nodular single lesions (43.8%) and in 18 cases associated with leiomyomas (56.2%), the average size of single lesions was 2.6 cm, significantly greaterthan those associated with leiomyomas. The predominant histologic type most often correspond to angiomatoid (81.3%), followed by adenoid patterns (9.4%), solid (6.3%) and mixed (3%), the cystic pattern was not observed. The immunohistochemical study of ST was positive in 100% for cytokeratin AE1/AE3, calrretinin, vimentin and D2-40. It was negative for CD31 and CEA. Only 6.3% (2 cases) were positive for cytokeratin 5/6. Conclusio-ns: The AT is a benign tumor of mesothelial origin. Usually the diagnosis is a finding. In the uterus they are generally mistaken with leiomyomas or it is in associated with them. Based on the foregoing the treatment of AT should be conservative, only with resection.http://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0717-75262009000600009&nrm=is

Mioma primario de la trompa de Falopio: una localización muy infrecuente

Indexación: Web of Science; Scielo.Presentamos un caso muy poco frecuente de mioma extrauterino, localizado en la trompa de Falopio derecha, en su porción media. A la inspección y anatomía patológica, no se encontraron evidencias de dependencia alguna con el útero. Constituyó un hallazgo en una mujer sometida a cirugía abdomino-pélvica debido a infertilidad primaria y dolor abdominal derecho. Los estudios previos con ultrasonido identificaron una imagen compatible con un mioma subseroso grande y pediculado.We present a rare case of extrauterine fibroid, located in the right fallopian tube in middle portion. The inspection and pathological study not found evidences of any dependence with uterus. It was a finding in a woman undergoing abdominal-pelvic surgery because of a primary infertility and right abdominal pain. Previous studies with ultrasound identified an image support a large pedicle subserous myoma.http://ref.scielo.org/g68cn

Head-shaking nystagmus in the early stage of unilateral meniere’s disease

OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to evaluate the ability of head-shaking nystagmus (HSNy), evoked after the resolution of a vertigo spell, to predict an imminent crisis in the early stage of Meniere’s disease (MD). MATERIALS and METHODS: A total of 20 patients in the early stage of MD were included in the study. The head-shaking test (HST) was performed twice, during the first visit within 24 h of vertigo spell (T0) and 48 h later (T1). The onset of a new vertigo episode during the 2 weeks following the first visit was recorded in each patient’s medical record. The sensitivity and specificity of HSNy toward predicting a new vertigo episode were calculated. RESULTS: At T0, an evoked ipsilesional HSNy in 15 (75%) patients was observed; in four of them, the HSNy had a biphasic component. The HSNy was present and persistent at T1 in 8 (42.1%) patients; among these cases, 6 patients had ipsilesional HSNy, and 2 patients a contralesional HSNy. None of the patients presented with a biphasic HSNy at T1. Seven (36.8%) patients experienced the recurrence of a vertigo crisis. Among these, 6 patients had ipsilesional HSNy at T1. Only 8 patients with ipsilesional HSNy at T0 did not have recurrence. The sensitivity of the ipsilesional HSNy in predicting the recurrence of vertigo in patients with MD was 100% at T0 and 85.7% at T1. The specificity was 46.6% and 100% at T0 and T1, respectively. CONCLUSION: The HST can be a useful test in the early stages of MD to predict a new vertigo attack

Actuators based on intrinsic conductive polymers/carbon nanoparticles nanocompositesElectroactive Polymer Actuators and Devices (EAPAD) 2013

New polyaniline (PANi) synthesis was performed starting from non-toxic N-phenil-p-phenylenediamine (aniline dimer) using reverse addition of monomer to oxidizing agent, the synthesis allows to produce highly soluble PANi. Several types of doped PANi were prepared to be used on electromechanical active actuators. Different techniques were used to include carbon nanoparticles such as carbon nanotubes and graphene. Bimorph solid state ionic actuators were prepared with these novel nanocomposites using a variety of supporting polymer

Transferring knowledge across robots: A risk sensitive approach

One of the most impressive characteristics of human perception is its domain adaptation capability. Humans can recognize objects and places simply by transferring knowledge from their past experience. Inspired by that, current research in robotics is addressing a great challenge: building robots able to sense and interpret the surrounding world by reusing information previously collected, gathered by other robots or obtained from the web. But, how can a robot automatically understand what is useful among a large amount of information and perform knowledge transfer? In this paper we address the domain adaptation problem in the context of visual place recognition. We consider the scenario where a robot equipped with a monocular camera explores a new environment. In this situation traditional approaches based on supervised learning perform poorly, as no annotated data are provided in the new environment and the models learned from data collected in other places are inappropriate due to the large variability of visual information. To overcome these problems we introduce a novel transfer learning approach. With our algorithm the robot is given only some training data (annotated images collected in different environments by other robots) and is able to decide whether, and how much, this knowledge is useful in the current scenario. At the base of our approach there is a transfer risk measure which quantifies the similarity between the given and the new visual data. To improve the performance, we also extend our framework to take into account multiple visual cues. Our experiments on three publicly available datasets demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach

CONTROL DE DISPOSITIVOS INTRATUBARIOS ESSURE MEDIANTE ESTUDIO DE IMÁGENES

Objetivo: Comparar la efectividad en la detección y control del dispositivo intratubario (DIT) Essure por medio de la radiografía abdominopélvica y el ultrasonido. Método: Control de los primeros 5 casos de esterilización tubaria ambulatoria con Essure, después de 1 y 2 años de su inserción, mediante radiografía abdominopélvica y ecografía transvaginal. Resultados: Ambos exámenes de imágenes permitieron corroborar la presencia del dispositivo Essure en las 5 pacientes, al completar su primer y segundo año desde su inserción. Conclusión:Tanto la radiografía abdominopélvica como la ecografía transvaginal, permiten detectar y controlar la presencia del DIT Essure. El ultrasonido realizado por el ginecólogo en la consulta, puede reemplazar a la radiografía simple, como método de detección y control de los dispositivos intra-tubarios (Essure). Las ventajas comparativas permiten concluir que el ultrasonido, no irradia a la paciente y permite explorar el resto de la anatomía de los órganos sexuales internos durante el mismo procedimiento. Sin embargo, es de mayor costo que la radiografí

Paratransgenesis to control malaria vectors: a semi-field pilot study

BACKGROUND: Malaria still remains a serious health burden in developing countries, causing more than 1 million deaths annually. Given the lack of an effective vaccine against its major etiological agent, Plasmodium falciparum, and the growing resistance of this parasite to the currently available drugs repertoire and of Anopheles mosquitoes to insecticides, the development of innovative control measures is an imperative to reduce malaria transmission. Paratransgenesis, the modification of symbiotic organisms to deliver anti-pathogen effector molecules, represents a novel strategy against Plasmodium development in mosquito vectors, showing the potential to reduce parasite development. However, the field application of laboratory-based evidence of paratransgenesis imposes the use of more realistic confined semi-field environments. METHODS: Large cages were used to evaluate the ability of bacteria of the genus Asaia expressing green fluorescent protein (Asaia (gfp)), to diffuse in Anopheles stephensi and Anopheles gambiae target mosquito populations. Asaia (gfp) was introduced in large cages through the release of paratransgenic males or by sugar feeding stations. Recombinant bacteria transmission was directly detected by fluorescent microscopy, and further assessed by molecular analysis. RESULTS: Here we show the first known trial in semi-field condition on paratransgenic anophelines. Modified bacteria were able to spread at high rate in different populations of An. stephensi and An. gambiae, dominant malaria vectors, exploring horizontal ways and successfully colonising mosquito midguts. Moreover, in An. gambiae, vertical and trans-stadial diffusion mechanisms were demonstrated. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate the considerable ability of modified Asaia to colonise different populations of malaria vectors, including pecies where its association is not primary, in large environments. The data support the potential to employ transgenic Asaia as a tool for malaria control, disclosing promising perspective for its field application with suitable effector molecules