Brugada Disease: Chronology Of Discovery And Paternity. Preliminary Observations And Historical Aspects

The Brugada disease, the last clinico-cardiologic entity described in the 20th century, initially called right bundle branch block syndrome with ST segment elevation from V1 to V2 or V3 and sudden cardiac death, is genetically determined in a dominant autosomal mode, and it affects the alpha subunit of the Na(+) channel by alteration of chromosome 3 and mutation in the SCN5A gene. In clinical diagnosis the mentioned electrocardiographic pattern in a patient without structural heart disease and positivity in pharmacological tests are considered major criteria. As minor criteria, the following are considered: positive family history, presence of syncope with unknown origin, documented episode of VT/VF, inducibility in electrophysiologic study and positivity of genetic study. The long-standing technology of ECG, with more than a century of existence, remains as the supplementary method with highest value in diagnosis, and currently new electrocardiographic criteria are suggested, which indicate high risk of VF. Natural history indicates a somber diagnosis in symptomatic patients with a high index of arrhythmic SCD secondary to very fast polymorphic ventricular tachycardia bursts, which degenerate into VF. Asymptomatic individuals with only a Brugada-type electrocardiographic pattern have a low risk. The prognosis seems to depend more on clinical facts, since a positive electrophysiologic study has an accuracy of just around 50%. We propose that this entity should be promoted to the category of disease, since it has a characteristic set of signs and symptoms, and an identified genetic defect

Building C(sp(3)) Molecular Complexity on 2,2 '-Bipyridine and 1,10-Phenanthroline in Rhenium Tricarbonyl Complexes

The reactions of [Re(N-N)(CO)(3)(PMe3)]OTf (N-N=2,2 '-bipyridine, bipy; 1,10-phenanthroline, phen) compounds with tBuLi and with LiHBEt3 have been explored. Addition to the N-N chelate took place with different site-selectivity depending on both chelate and nucleophile. Thus, with tBuLi, an unprecedented addition to C5 of bipy, a regiochemistry not accessible for free bipy, was obtained, whereas coordinated phen underwent tBuLi addition to C2 and C4. Remarkably, when LiHBEt3 reacted with [Re(bipy)(CO)(3)(PMe3)]OTf, hydride addition to the 4 and 6 positions of bipy triggered an intermolecular cyclodimerization of two dearomatized pyridyl rings. In contrast, hydride addition to the phen analog resulted in partial reduction of one pyridine ring. The resulting neutral Re-I products showed a varied reactivity with HOTf and with MeOTf to yield cationic complexes. These strategies rendered access to Re-I complexes containing bipy- and phen-derived chelates with several C(sp(3)) centers

Toward condition monitoring of damper windings in synchronous motors via EMD analysis

(c) 2012 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works.[EN] Failures in damper windings of synchronous machines operating in real facilities have been recently reported by several authors and companies. These windings are crucial elements of synchronous motors and generators, playing an important role in the asynchronous startup of these machines as well as in their stability during load transients. However, the diagnosis of failures in such elements has barely been studied in the literature. This paper presents a method to diagnose the condition of damper bars in synchronous motors. It is based on the capture of the stator current of the machine during a direct startup and its further analysis in order to track the characteristic transient evolution of a particular fault-related component in the time-frequency map. The fact that the damper only carries significant current during the startup and little or no current, when the machine operates in steady state, makes this transient-based approach specially suited for the detection of such failure. The Hilbert-Huang transform (based on the empirical mode decomposition method) is proposed as a signal-processing tool. Simulation and experimental results on laboratory synchronous machines prove the validity of the approach for condition monitoring of such windings. © 2012 IEEE.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion (MICINN) in the framework of the VI Plan Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica, Desarrollo e Innovacion Tecnologica 2008-2011. (Programa Nacional de proyectos de Investigacion Fundamental, project reference DPI2011-23740). Paper no. TEC-00443-2011.Antonino-Daviu, J.; Riera-Guasp, M.; Pons Llinares, J.; Roger-Folch, J.; Perez, R.; Charlton-Perez, C. (2012). Toward condition monitoring of damper windings in synchronous motors via EMD analysis. IEEE Transactions on Energy Conversion. 27(2):432-439. https://doi.org/10.1109/TEC.2012.2190292S43243927

Accelerated Idioventricular Rhythm: History and Chronology of the Main Discoveries

Accelerated Idioventricular Rhythm (AIVR) is a ventricular rhythm consisting of three or more consecutive monomorphic beats, with gradual onset and gradual termination. It can rarely manifest in patients with completely normal hearts or with structural heart disease. It is usually seen during acute myocardial infarction reperfusion. This manuscript aims to review the history of the main discoveries that lead to the identification and comprehension of this fascinating arrhythmia

Estimated reduction of energy consumption related to mobility in urban renewal projects

The urban sprawl that characterizes most European cities relies highly on the use of private motor vehicle. As a result, there is a prominent increase in the energy consumption of the built environment. Therefore, the densification of existing urban areas located near public transportation is an interesting alternative to dispersed urbanization, provided that such process goes together with an offer of local services and facilities to promote the use of soft mobility. Analysis at neighborhood scale allows studying the influence of infrastructures, facilities and services on daily mobility choices. This analysis should create direct insights into how the combination of global and local parameters related to mobility infrastructures and urban developments affect mobility energy consumption. The latter can be calculated by two main different methods: the macro-scale methods, which are based on parameters defining the city, and the micro-scale methods, which use accurate data from individuals and infrastructures. The present paper shows an application of a novel intermediate method at neighborhood level developed by the Swiss Society of Engineers and Architects (SIA) to estimate the energy consumption related to mobility and attributed to buildings. The analysis of induced mobility by different urban renewal scenarios of an existing neighborhood in Lausanne, Switzerland, shows the importance of the number of car parks and of the human density (residents or jobs per square meter) as key factors related to mobility energy planning. Results also highlight the significant impact of changes in behavior, in terms of chosen mean of transportation and covered distances, on the potential for energy savings

Flipping the classrrom in courses of statistics: analyzing the feedback from students

[EN] We present the application of the flipped classroom strategy in two subjects of the degree in Statistics (University of Barcelona-Polytechnic University of Catalonia) and analyse the opinion of students about the experience. The objective is to improve the learning process of statistics by promoting a more active attitude of students in the classroom. The new strategy has been welcomed by students, as most of them are satisfied with the experience. Many of them would like that the stratgy would be applied to a significant number of lessons in the subject, or even in other subjects of the degree. Moreover, students think that it helped them to develop their capacity to organize their study time and their self-learning competence. They also think that with the flipped classroom strategy they learn more than with the traditional classes, but they remark the importance of imcluding a session where the teacher answers the questions and solves the doubts of students to ensure a sucessful implementation.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Alcañiz, M.; Lopez-Tamayo, J.; Perez-Marin, A.; Riera, C.; Santolino, M.; Chulia, H. (2018). Flipping the classrrom in courses of statistics: analyzing the feedback from students. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1011-1018. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8136OCS1011101

Effects of organic enrichment on macrofauna community structure: an experimental approach

A determinação da resiliência das assembleias bênticas é um assunto fundamental para a indústria da aquicultura de mar aberto como tentativa de minimizar as perturbações ambientais. Estudos experimentais são ferramenta importante para o estabelecimento das linhas de base para as comunidades do fundo oceânico. Nesse sentido, um experimento foi conduzido sob três tratamentos (controle, 1x e 3x), nos quais o aporte orgânico (pelotas fecais de peixes) foi adicionado nas quantidades de 1x (10 g de pelotas fecais) e de 3 vezes (30 g). Os resultados mostram que foi encontrada redução na abundância de indivíduos e também no número de espécies entre o controle e os tratamentos com enriquecimento orgânico. Mudanças significativas na estrutura das assembleias também foram encontradas, principalmente devido ao decréscimo do tanaidáceo sensível Apseudes talpa nos tratamento enriquecidos. Os índices AMBI e M-AMBI foram calculados e um decréscimo do status ecológico foi observado no tratamento 3x.The determination of the resilience of benthic assemblages is a capital issue for the off-shore aquaculture industry in its attempts to minimize environmental disturbances. Experimental studies are an important tool for the establishment of thresholds for macrofaunal assemblages inhabiting sandy seabeds. An experiment was conducted with three treatments (Control, 1x and 3x),in which organic load (fish pellets) was added (1x (10 g of fish pellets) and 3x (30 g)). A reduction in abundance of individuals and species richness was found as between the control and organic-enriched treatments. Significant changes in assemblage structure were also found, mainly due to the decrease of the sensitive tanaid Apseudes talpa in organically-enriched treatments. AMBI and M-AMBI indices were calculated and a decrease of ecological status was observed in treatment 3x

Bidirectional Ventricular Tachycardia: A Hallmark of Catecholaminergic Polymorphic Ventricular Tachycardia

Catecholaminergic polymorphic ventricular tachycardia is a familial cardiac arrhythmia that is related to RYR2 or CASQ2 gene mutation. It occurs in patients with structurally normal heart and causes exercise-emotion triggered syncope and sudden cardiac death. We present a 13 year-old girl with recurrent episodes of exercise-related syncope and prior history of sudden death in a first degree relative

Diagnosis of Induction Motor Faults in the Fractional Fourier Domain

[EN] Motor current signature analysis (MCSA) is a well-established method for the diagnosis of induction motor faults. It is based on the analysis of the spectral content of a motor current, which is sampled while a motor runs in steady state, to detect the harmonic components that characterize each type of fault. The Fourier transform (FT) plays a prominent role as a tool for identifying these spectral components. Recently, MCSA has also been applied during the transient regime (TMCSA) using the whole transient speed range to create a unique stamp of each harmonic as it evolves in the time-frequency plane. This method greatly enhances the reliability of the diagnostic process compared with the traditional method, which relies on spectral analysis at a single speed. However, the FT cannot be used in this case because the fault harmonics are not stationary signals. This paper proposes the use of the fractional FT (FrFT) instead of the FT to perform TMCSA. This paper also proposes the optimization of the FrFT to generate a spectrum where the frequency-varying fault harmonics appear as single spectral lines and, therefore, facilitate the diagnostic process. A discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is used as a conditioning tool to filter the motor current prior to its processing by the FrFT. Experimental results that are obtained with a 1.1-kW three-phase squirrel-cage induction motor with broken bars are presented to validate the proposed method.This work was supported by the European Community's Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013 under Grant Agreement 224233 (Research Project PRODI "Power Plant Robustification Based on Fault Detection and Isolation Algorithms"). The Associate Editor coordinating the review process for this paper was Dr. Subhas Mukhopadhyay.Pineda-Sanchez, M.; Riera-Guasp, M.; Antonino-Daviu, J.; Roger-Folch, J.; Perez-Cruz, J.; Puche-Panadero, R. (2010). Diagnosis of Induction Motor Faults in the Fractional Fourier Domain. IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement. 59(8):2065-2075. https://doi.org/10.1109/TIM.2009.2031835S2065207559