Utilidad de los órganos sensoriales en Evaluaciones Neurotoxicológicas

Es de vital importancia para el desarrollo de las Ciencias Biomédicas encaminar un estudio que esté dirigido a determinar la acción de diferentes compuestos, sustancias o medicamentos, con posible efecto neurotóxico, sobre algunos componentes neurales del sistema de órganos sensoriales (cóclea, receptor olfatorio y retina-nervio óptico). Desde el punto de vista experimental se han realizado estudios encaminados a cuantificar daños producidos por muchas sustancias, como la gentamicina, el IDPN (3,3¹ -iminodipropionitrilo) y el Carbimazol sobre el órgano auditivo, donde se observan alteraciones en las células ciliadas del órgano de Corti, que van desde leves desarreglos hasta la pérdida completa de su patrón de disposición. En el órgano olfatorio, se ha utilizado IDPN, Carbimazol y Mercurio, que provocan, generalmente, degeneración del epitelio olfatorio, con elevaciones de la GFAP (proteína acídica gliofibrilar) en los bulbos olfatorios. En retina-nervio óptico mediante la utilización del alcohol, se han observado alteraciones de las distintas capas de la retina con la presencia de vacuolas, edema, dilatación de la envoltura nuclear y alteraciones de las células gliales con elevación de la GFAP, degeneración y atrofia de axones, capa de mielina y células ganglionares. La estandarización de esta metodología, nos permitirá evaluar sustancias específicas con efectos neurotóxicos sobre los órganos sensoriales anteriormente señalados y la búsqueda de sustancias que puedan contrarrestar tales efectos, con la consiguiente aplicación en clínica, pudiendo constituir una nueva fuente de ingresos, por servicios científico-técnicos prestados a otras instituciones nacionales o extranjeras. Por otra parte, complementa trabajos que se están realizando desde el punto de vista neurotoxicológico. Palabras Clave: Organos sensoriales, neurotoxinas, evaluaciones neurotoxicológicas. </span

Dyslexia Diagnosis by EEG Temporal and Spectral Descriptors: An Anomaly Detection Approach.

Diagnosis of learning difficulties is a challenging goal. There are huge number of factors involved in the evaluation procedure that present high variance among the population with the same difficulty. Diagnosis is usually performed by scoring subjects according to results obtained in different neuropsychological (performance-based) tests specifically designed to this end. One of the most frequent disorders is developmental dyslexia (DD), a specific difficulty in the acquisition of reading skills not related to mental age or inadequate schooling. Its prevalence is estimated between 5% and 12% of the population. Traditional tests for DD diagnosis aim to measure different behavioral variables involved in the reading process. In this paper, we propose a diagnostic method not based on behavioral variables but on involuntary neurophysiological responses to different auditory stimuli. The experiments performed use electroencephalography (EEG) signals to analyze the temporal behavior and the spectral content of the signal acquired from each electrode to extract relevant (temporal and spectral) features. Moreover, the relationship of the features extracted among electrodes allows to infer a connectivity-like model showing brain areas that process auditory stimuli in a synchronized way. Then an anomaly detection system based on the reconstruction residuals of an autoencoder using these features has been proposed. Hence, classification is performed by the proposed system based on the differences in the resulting connectivity models that have demonstrated to be a useful tool for differential diagnosis of DD as well as a method to step towards gaining a better knowledge of the brain processes involved in DD.This work was partly supported by the MINECO/FEDER under PGC2018-098813-B-C31, PGC2018-098813-B-C32 and PSI2015-65848-R projects. We gratefully acknowledge the support of NVIDIA Corporation with the donation of one of the GPUs used for this research. Work by F.J.M.M. was supported by the MICINN “Juan de la Cierva - Formaci´on” Fellowship. We also thank the Leeduca research group and Junta de Andaluc´ıa for the data supplied and the support

Analysis of Killer Immunoglobulin-Like Receptor Genes in Colorectal Cancer

Natural killer cells (NK cells) play a major role in the immune response to cancer. An important element of NK target recognition is the binding of human leucocyte antigen (HLA) class I molecules by killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIRs). Colorectal carcinoma (CRC) is one of the most common types of inflammation-based cancer. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the presence of KIR genes and HLA class I and II alleles in 1074 CRC patients and 1272 controls. We imputed data from single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) Illumina OncoArray to identify associations at HLA (HLA-A, B, C, DPB1, DQA1, DQB1, and DRB1) and KIRs (HIBAG and KIR*IMP, respectively). For association analysis, we used PLINK (v1.9), the PyHLA software, and R version 3.4.0. Only three SNP markers showed suggestive associations (p < 10(-3); rs16896742, rs28367832, and rs9277952). The frequency of KIR2DS3 was significantly increased in the CRC patients compared to healthy controls (p < 0.005). Our results suggest that the implication of NK cells in CRC may not act through allele combinations in KIR and HLA genes. Much larger studies in ethnically homogeneous populations are needed to rule out the possible role of allelic combinations in KIR and HLA genes in CRC risk

Regional subsidence modelling in Murcia city (SE Spain) using 1-D vertical finite element analysis and 2-D interpolation of ground surface displacements

Subsidence is a hazard that may have natural or anthropogenic origin causing important economic losses. The area of Murcia city (SE Spain) has been affected by subsidence due to groundwater overexploitation since the year 1992. The main observed historical piezometric level declines occurred in the periods 1982–1984, 1992–1995 and 2004–2008 and showed a close correlation with the temporal evolution of ground displacements. Since 2008, the pressure recovery in the aquifer has led to an uplift of the ground surface that has been detected by the extensometers. In the present work an elastic hydro-mechanical finite element code has been used to compute the subsidence time series for 24 geotechnical boreholes, prescribing the measured groundwater table evolution. The achieved results have been compared with the displacements estimated through an advanced DInSAR technique and measured by the extensometers. These spatio-temporal comparisons have showed that, in spite of the limited geomechanical data available, the model has turned out to satisfactorily reproduce the subsidence phenomenon affecting Murcia City. The model will allow the prediction of future induced deformations and the consequences of any piezometric level variation in the study area.This work has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and EU FEDER funds under projects ESP2013-47780-C2-2-R and TEC2011-28201-C02-02 and by the project 15224/PI/10 from the Regional Agency of Science and Technology in Murcia. The European Space Agency (ESA) Terrafirma project funded all the SAR data processing with the SPN technique

Changes in the ankle muscles co-activation pattern after 5 years following total ankle joint replacement

© 2018 Elsevier Ltd Background: The Hintegra® arthroplasty provides inversion-eversion stability, permits axial rotation, ankle flexion-extension, and improvements of the gait patterns are expected up to 12 months of rehabilitation. However, sensorimotor impairments are observed in ankle flexors/extensors muscles after rehabilitation, with potential negative effects on locomotion. Here we determined the timing and amplitude of co-activation of the tibialis anterior and medial gastrocnemius muscles during gait by assessing non-operated and operated legs of patients with total ankle replacement, 5 years after surgery. Methods: Twenty-nine patients (age: 58 [5.5] years, height: 156.4 [6.5] cm, body mass: 72.9 [6.5] kg, 10 men, and 19 women) that underwent Hintegra® ankle arthroplasty were included. Inclusion criteria included 5 years prosthesis survivorship. The onset and offset of muscle activation (timing), as well as the amplitude of activation, were determined during barefoot walkin

An FPGA Kalman-MPPT implementation adapted in SST-based dual active bridge converters for DC microgrids systems

The design of digital hardware controllers for the integration of renewable energy sources in DC microgrids is a research topic of interest. In this paper, a Kalman filter-based maximum power point tracking algorithm is implemented in an FPGA and adapted in a dual active bridge (DAB) converter topology for DC microgrids. This approach uses the Hardware/Software (HW/SW) co-design paradigm in combination with a pipelined piecewise polynomial approximation design of the Kalman-maximum power point tracking (MPPT) algorithm instead of traditional lookup table (LUT)-based methods. Experimental results reveal a good integration of the Kalman-MPPT design with the DAB-based converter, particularly during irradiation and temperature variations due to changes in weather conditions, as well as a good balanced hardware design in complexity and area-time performance compared to other state-of-art FPGA designs

Geometrical and geotechnical characterization of the earth fissures appeared in the Guadalentín Valley (southeastern Spain) after the September 2012 flooding

Two earth fissures appeared in Murcia province (southeastern Spain) after the flood occurred because of a heavy downpour on 28 September 2012. In this area, located within the Guadalentín Valley, up to 212 L m−2 was reported that day. More than 200 agricultural exploitations were destroyed by the flooding, with a devastating effect on many infrastructures, such as a main A-7 highway bridge that collapsed in this event. The earth fissures appeared after this flooding in the towns of Puerto Lumbreras and Totana. The first fissure showed a straight-line direction approximately parallel to the main geological structures of the Guadalentín Valley. The total length of the fissure was 400 m and was 2 to 3 m in depth. The soil in the fissure is classified as a low-plasticity silt with some sand and clay, ML, according to the Unified Soil Classification System. From the sieve and hydrometer tests, the percentage of silt in these samples was between 48 % and 68 %, the clay content between 12 % and 30 % and the sand content between 2 % and 40 %. The plasticity index was smaller than 9.2 for all the samples. To evaluate the piping and internal erosion susceptibility of the soil, pinhole, crumb and geochemical tests were done on the collected samples. A result of non-dispersive soil was obtained from crumb and pinhole tests. Nevertheless, the pH, sodium adsorption ratio and exchangeable sodium percentage tests showed that some samples could be affected by the dispersion of the soil. Also, the collapsible potential of the soil was studied, showing negative results for all the samples except for that collected at the southern end of the fissure, which showed a medium to high potential. Concerning the Totana fissure, it appeared with different branches and holes instead of as a rectilinear pattern. The total length of the fissure was 190 m, with the soil characterized as a silty soil. Lastly, INSAR data, GPS, GPR and land subsidence maps were used to study the possible origin of these fissures.This research has been supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, the State Agency of Research and the European Funds for Regional Development (grant no. TEC2017-85244-C2-1-P), UNESCO (grant no. ICGP641), the Universidad de Alicante (grant no. GRE17-11), and the Universidad de Alicante (grant no. GRE18-15)

Searching for the Culprit: Metastases from a Cancer of Unknown Primary

We report a case of metastases from a cancer of unknown primary whose primary site could not be identified during the appropriate pretreatment evaluation. The patient was a 58-year-old woman with a history of passive smoking and with no history of cancer in the family. Her current condition started with asthenia, adynamia, and pallor, followed by palpitations. An abdominopelvic computed tomography (CT) scan was performed, showing multiple osteolytic lesions distributed in all bone structures and axillary adenopathy on the left side. As part of the approach and given the high suspicion of multiple myeloma, tests were performed. The results were negative for multiple myeloma. A PET-CT scan was performed and showed left axillary adenopathy. The breasts and other organs were not affected. Left axillary lymph node resection revealed breast primary metastatic pleomorphic lobular carcinoma. Due to the metastatic disease (caused by the primary breast cancer), it was decided to start chemotherapy

Travaillez ou mariez-vous !:La régulation sexuée de la pauvreté en France et aux États-Unis

L’article présente une analyse sexuée de l’évolution des droits et devoirs qui lient les personnes percevant l’aide sociale et l’Etat en France et aux Etats-Unis. Dans les deux pays, la contrepartie exigée en retour de la solidarité nationale a longtemps reposé pour les femmes sur leur rôle de « mère », pour les hommes sur celui de « pourvoyeur de ressources de la famille ». Les réformes successives des programmes de lutte contre la pauvreté aux Etats-Unis et en France ont modifié la nature de ces obligations, renforçant dans les deux cas la logique du mérite via une exigence d’insertion dans l’emploi, ceci de façon plus marquée aux Etats-Unis qu’en France. L’injonction à l’autonomie concerne désormais femmes et hommes, mais épargne les femmes mariées, dont l’inactivité est acceptée voire encouragée dans les dispositifs sociaux ou fiscaux

Monitoring ground subsidence in the Vega Media of the river Segura through Differential SAR Interferometry (DInSAR)

Ground subsidence caused by aquifer exploitation is a geotechnical hazard that affects wide areas, causing important economic damages. This phenomenon is due to soil consolidation produced by the increase of effective stress caused by piezometric depletion. In this work a Remote Sensing Technique called Coherent Pixel (CPT) is applied to monitor subsidence in the Vega Media of the Segura River during a period of eleven year