Relación entre los polimorfismos de Apolipoproteina E e hipertensión arterial en pacientes con síndrome de apnea-hipopnea del sueño

El Síndrome de Apnea Hipopnea del Sueño (SAHS) se caracteriza por episodios repetitivos de obstrucción de la vía aérea superior, bien total o parcial que ocurren durante el sueño, lo que puede dar origen a un sueño poco reparador, responsable de la somnolencia diurna que presentan estos pacientes. En la actualidad es considerado como un síndrome que engloba manifestaciones cognitivo-conductales, metabólicas, cardíacas y respiratorias y cuya gravedad es evaluada en base al índice de apnea-hipoapnea (IAH), siendo la polisomnografía nocturna la prueba de referencia para el diagnóstico del SAHS. Un IAH mayor de 5 asociado a hipersomnolencia o a la presencia de dos o más síntomas no explicados por otras causas es diagnóstico de la enfermedad. El SAHS, al igual que otras enfermedades crónicas, ha despertado en la última década un gran interés en profundizar en sus aspectos genéticos. Hoy en día, es considerado como una enfermedad poligénica compleja 2, en la que muy frecuentemente se describe una asociación familiar y en la que muchos de los aspectos que favorecen su existencia, tienen también una predisposición genética. A ello se debe añadir el impacto ambiental sobre la enfermedad. Todo ello hace pensar en la importancia de los aspectos genéticos a la hora de conseguir un mayor conocimiento fisiopatológico.Grado en Medicin

“Sólo interesados en los muertos”. Representaciones mediáticas nacionales y narrativas de los habitantes de la frontera Ecuador-Colombia

The article examines representations of Ecuadorian newspapers on northern border population, in the framework of relations between the Governments of Ecuador and Colombia. It also addresses how to build local alternatives toward such representations. From a look that combines ethnography and discourse analysis, we observe the role of media in the construction and reproduction images that adversely affect daily life in this border. Moreover, the existence of local narratives and practices that could be considered attempts to reappropriate this production by the border population is found. We understand them as efforts to regain ownership and the ability to decide on what to say, how to talk and who to ask about the border.El artículo examina las representaciones de la prensa gráfica ecuatoriana sobre la población de la frontera Norte, en el marco de las relaciones entre los gobiernos de Ecuador y Colombia, así como la construcción local de alternativas frente a las mismas. A partir de una mirada que combina etnografía y análisis del discurso, se da cuenta del papel de los medios en la construcción y reproducción de imágenes repercuten negativamente en la vida cotidiana en frontera. Además, se constata la existencia de narrativas y prácticas locales que podrían ser consideradas intentos de reapropiación de la producción informativa por parte de la población fronteriza. Las entendemos como esfuerzos por recuperar el protagonismo y la capacidad de decidir sobre qué decir, cómo hablar y a quiénes consultar sobre la frontera

Reducing the loss of information through annealing text distortion

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. Granados, A. ;Cebrian, M. ; Camacho, D. ; de Borja Rodriguez, F. "Reducing the Loss of Information through Annealing Text Distortion". IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering, vol. 23, no. 7 pp. 1090 - 1102, July 2011Compression distances have been widely used in knowledge discovery and data mining. They are parameter-free, widely applicable, and very effective in several domains. However, little has been done to interpret their results or to explain their behavior. In this paper, we take a step toward understanding compression distances by performing an experimental evaluation of the impact of several kinds of information distortion on compression-based text clustering. We show how progressively removing words in such a way that the complexity of a document is slowly reduced helps the compression-based text clustering and improves its accuracy. In fact, we show how the nondistorted text clustering can be improved by means of annealing text distortion. The experimental results shown in this paper are consistent using different data sets, and different compression algorithms belonging to the most important compression families: Lempel-Ziv, Statistical and Block-Sorting.This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science under TIN2010-19872 and TIN2010-19607 projects

Nanoparticle biocoating to create ATP-powered swimmers capable of repairing proteins on the fly

In this study, we combine nanotechnology and biotechnology to design a biocompatible propulsion system based on the molecular chaperone Hsp90, a heat-shock protein (Hsp) that, in the presence of adenosine 5'-triphosphate (ATP), undergoes nanoscale conformational changes while trapping and renaturing other proteins. We show how, subjected to ATP availability in the medium, Hsp90-functionalized particles significantly enhance their diffusion motion, being able to achieve ballistic motion, while keeping the ability to restore the activity of surrounding heat-inactivated proteins. This biomechanics-based propulsion mechanism represents a promising strategy for the design of self-propelled nanodevices capable of performing sophisticated tasks in live biological contexts that include sensing the environment, recognizing and capturing, folding, and restoring defective proteins on the fly. In the short term, Hsp90-driven nanodevices could be applied to improve industrial processes that require enzymatic catalysis and high temperatures. But in the medium to long term, this bioactive coating could be used in the design of nanomachines that, like mini-robots, navigate the complex body cavities of biological tissues, deliver therapies and/or remove misfolded proteins in disorders such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease.Acknowledgments: The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Spanish Instituto de Salud Carlos iii, and the European Union FEDER funds under Projects ref. PI22/00030, PI19/00349, from the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovacion under project PID2020-119242RB-I00 and the European Union H2020-MSCA-RISE-2019 PEPSA-MATE project. ARR and MARD acknowledge financial support from IDIVAL (PREVAL19/04) and the Xunta de Galicia (2017- ED481A/322) respectively. We also acknowledge IDIVAL projects INNVAL19/12 and INNVAL21/1

Análisis de la presencia de las mujeres científicas en los libros de texto de educación secundaria y su repercusión en las carreras STEM

En España, solo el 12% del estudiantado que cursa las denominadas carreras STEM (Ciencias, Tecnologías, Ingenierías y Matemáticas) son mujeres. ¿A qué es debida esta infrarrepresentación del género femenino en dichos ámbitos? ¿Tiene algo que ver la educación obligatoria en las decisiones profesionales de las alumnas? En este trabajo de investigación se ha llevado a cabo un análisis de seis libros de texto escolares de la asignatura de Biología y Geología de los cursos de 3º y 4º de Educación Secundaria Obligatoria (ESO) con el objetivo de conocer la representación femenina que se da en dichos manuales sobre las personas célebres que aparecen en los mismos. También se ha analizado el uso del lenguaje utilizado en el discurso de texto y las ilustraciones insertadas en los libros. Dicho material pertenece a la comunidad autónoma de Andalucía. El objetivo de este análisis es comprobar si una de las razones por las que las estudiantes no cursan carreras STEM es debido a la falta de referentes femeninos durante la educación obligatoria. Se darán a conocer otras investigaciones realizadas con anterioridad sobre la misma temática y se podrá corroborar que el porcentaje de representación del género femenino sigue siendo casi nulo. Del mismo modo, se observa el abusivo uso del masculino genérico y la presencia de imágenes estereotipadas. Por último, una vez analizados los manuales escolares, se realizará una valoración de los resultados obtenidos y se darán una serie de recomendaciones con el objetivo de introducir la igualdad en los libros de texto

Quality of Life and Physical Activity: Their Relationship with Physical and Psychological Well-Being

Many studies have been focused on the analysis of different factors that relate to the quality of life. And those studies have found a clear relationship between the quality of life, psychological well-being, and health. It is important to know those relationships and to know factors that can improve these three aspects simultaneously. And one of the most important factors is the realization of physical activity on a regular basis. This study analyzes the effect of physical activity on improving the quality of life (physical health and well-being) and its relationship with psychological well-being through two studies. One was a randomized clinical trial involving 98 low-risk incident cases of acute coronary syndrome, who were randomly assigned to an unsupervised walking program or a cycle ergometer exercise program. The other study is an expost-facto investigation with a total of 841 healthy subjects. We apply them questionnaires to measure subjective well-being, satisfaction with life, positive and negative affect, Short Form-36 Health Survey (SF-36), and the specific Velasco-del Barrio questionnaire for post-myocardial infarction. This study concludes physical activity and exercise are key factors in an individual’s perception for their quality of life, both in the area of physical and psychological health

Therapeutic Exercise Intervention Using Vibration Platforms for Glycemic Control in Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot Study

[EN] Diabetes generates a great impact on society, as well as a concern for health professionals due to its high and increasing prevalence; there are several studies that demonstrate the effectiveness of vibration platforms and their benefits at a physiological level. The aim of this study will be to analyze the decrease in glycosylated hemoglobin and glycemia levels after the use of whole-body vibration platforms and the possible inclusion of this therapeutic option within the usual treatments. This is a double-blind, randomized controlled trial with parallel group design in a 1:1 ratio. The sample will be composed of people diagnosed with type 2 diabetes mellitus in in the Plasencia area (Cáceres, Extremadura). Participants will be randomly assigned to the intervention or control group using a randomization list and will follow the inclusion criteria: type 2 diabetics between 50 and 60 years of age and not taking diabetes medication. All participants will undergo a determination of glycosylated hemoglobin, blood pressure, lipid profile, weight and height, and different functional tests such as Time Up and Go, 10 Meters Walk Test, and 5 Sit To Stand. The experimental group will perform a whole-body vibration intervention on an oscillating platform for 12 weeks with a weekly frequency of three nonconsecutive days and a duration of 12 min. The exercises will consist of 60 s of work and 60 s with rest. The control group will carry out their normal life insisting on the importance of glycemic controls before and after their daily physical exercise. This study has been registered at clinical.trial.org, ID: NCT 05968222. Whole-body vibration platforms have demonstrated their effectiveness in different pathologies such as stroke, fibromyalgia, sclerosis multiple, or Parkinson’s. For that reason, an improvement in glycemic and lipid values and body composition are expected in people with diabetes after a whole-body vibration intervention for 12 weeks’ duration. In addition, whole-body vibration platforms could be postulated as an alternative to usual treatments.SIUniversity of Salamanc

Evaluating the impact of information distortion on normalized compression distance

The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-87448-5_8Proceedings of Second International Castle Meeting, ICMCTA 2008, Castillo de la Mota, Medina del Campo, Spain, September 15-19, 2008.In this paper we apply different techniques of information distortion on a set of classical books written in English. We study the impact that these distortions have upon the Kolmogorov complexity and the clustering by compression technique (the latter based on Normalized Compression Distance, NCD). We show how to decrease the complexity of the considered books introducing several modifications in them. We measure how the information contained in each book is maintained using a clustering error measure. We find experimentally that the best way to keep the clustering error is by means of modifications in the most frequent words. We explain the details of these information distortions and we compare with other kinds of modifications like random word distortions and unfrequent word distortions. Finally, some phenomenological explanations from the different empirical results that have been carried out are presented.This work was supported by TIN 2004-04363-CO03-03, TIN 2007-65989, CAM S-SEM-0255-2006, TIN2007-64718 and TSI 2005-08255-C07-06. We would also like to thank Franscico Sánchez for his useful comments on this draft