Estudio clínico a medio plazo con el sistema posteroestabilizado de rodilla optetrak en un hospital universitario

La prótesis total de rodilla es una de las cirugías más realizadas en los Servicios de Traumatología de nuestro país. El número de implantes que se realiza cada año es cada vez mayor habiendo aumentado hasta un 134% las cifras respecto a años previos. A pesar de ser una técnica reproducible, la artroplastia total de rodilla es una técnica no exenta de riesgos y potenciales complicaciones; si a esto le unimos el gasto sanitario que produce es importante conocer los resultados obtenidos en nuestro Servicio con un modelo determinado de prótesis de rodilla. OBJETIVOS Conocer los resultados clínicos obtenidos con la Prótesis total de Rodilla Optetrak® Posteroestabilizada en el Servicio de Traumatología del Hospital Clínico San Carlos. Valorar la supervivencia del sistema de rodilla Optetrak de rodilla en nuestro Centro y ver si se encuentra en el rango considerado como estándar para una prótesis de rodilla de acuerdo a la bibliografía nacional e internacional publicada..

Dispersal-induced resilience to stochastic environmental fluctuations in populations with Allee effect

Many species are unsustainable at small population densities (Allee Effect). This implies that for population densities below a threshold, named Allee threshold, the population decreases instead of growing. In a closed local population, this makes that environmental fluctuations always leads to extinction. Here, we show how, in spatially extended habitats, dispersal can lead to a sustainable population in a region, provided the amplitude of environmental fluctuations is below an extinction threshold. We have identified two types of sustainable populations: high-density and low-density populations (through a mean-field approximation, valid in the limit of large dispersal length). Our results show that close to global extinction patches where population density is high, low or extinct coexist (even for homogeneous habitats). The extinction threshold increases proportionally to the squared root of the dispersal rate, decreases with the Allee threshold, and it is maximum for characteristic dispersal distances much larger than the spatial scale of synchrony of environmental fluctuations. The low-density population solution can be particularly interesting for future applications, as to understand non-recovery events after harvesting. This theoretical framework allows novel approaches to address the impact of other factors, as habitat fragmentation, on the population resilience to environmental fluctuations.Comment: 24 pages, 3 figures, 1 tabl

ENSO coupling to the equatorial Atlantic: analysis with an extended improved recharge oscillator model

© 2023 Crespo-Miguel, Polo, Mechoso, Rodríguez-Fonseca and Cao-García. Weacknowledge Javier Jarillo and Lander R. Crespo for their help during the early stages of manuscript writing. We acknowledge the World Climate Research Programme’s Working Group on Coupled Modeling, responsible for CMIP, and we thank the climate modeling groups for producing and making available their model output. This work was financially supported by 817578 TRIATLAS project of the Horizon 2020 Programme (EU) and RTI2018095802-B-I00 and PID2021-125806NB-I00 of Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain), Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU), the European Union Seventh Framework Programme (EU-FP7/2007–2013) PREFACE (Grant Agreement No. 603521), the ERC STERCP project (grant 648982), the ARC Centre of Excellence in Climate Extremes (CE170100023) and the Spanish project (CGL201786415-R).Introduction: Observational and modeling studies have examined the interactions between El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and the equatorial Atlantic variability as incorporated into the classical charge-recharge oscillator model of ENSO. These studies included the role of the Atlantic in the predictability of ENSO but assumed stationarity in the relationships, i.e., that models’ coefficients do not change overtime. Arecentworkbytheauthors has challenged the stationarity assumption in the ENSO framework but without considering the equatorial Atlantic influence on ENSO. Methods: The present paper addresses the changing relationship between ENSO and the Atlantic El Niño using an extended version of the recharge oscillator model. The classical two-variable model of ENSO is extended by adding a linear coupling on the SST anomalies in the equatorial Atlantic. The model’s coefficients are computed for different periods. This calculation is done using two methods tofitthemodel tothe data: (1) the traditional method (ReOsc), and (2) a novel method (ReOsc+) based on fitting the Fisher’s Z transform of the auto and cross-correlation functions. Results: Weshowthat, duringthe 20th century, the characteristic dampingrate of the SST and thermocline depth anomalies in the Pacific have decreased in time by a factor of 2 and 3, respectively. Moreover, the damping time of the ENSO fluctuations has doubled from 10 to 20 months, and the oscillation period of ENSO has decreased from 60-70 months before the 1960s to 50 months afterward. These two changes have contributed to enhancing ENSO amplitude. The results also show that correlations between ENSO and the Atlantic SST strengthened after the 70s and the way in which the impact of the equatorial Atlantic is added to the internal ENSO variability. Conclusions: The remote effects of the equatorial Atlantic on ENSO must be considered in studies of ENSO dynamics and predictability during specific time-periods. Our results provide further insight into the evolution of the ENSO dynamics anditscoupling to the equatorial Atlantic, as well as an improved tool to study the coupling of climatic and ecological variables.Depto. de Estructura de la Materia, Física Térmica y ElectrónicaDepto. de Física de la Tierra y AstrofísicaFac. de Ciencias FísicasTRUEHorizon 2020 Programme (EU)Ministerio de Economía y CompetitividadFondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU)European Union Seventh Framework ProgrammeERC STERCP projectARC Centre of Excellence in Climate ExtremesSpanish projectpu

Signaling pathways involved in liver injury and regeneration in rabbit hemorrhagic disease, an animal model of virally-induced fulminant hepatic failure

Management of fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) continues to be one challenging problem, and experimental animal models resembling its clinical conditions are still needed. Rabbit hemorrhagic disease (RHD) fullfils many requirements of an animal model of FHF. This work investigated changes in MAPK, NF-κB, AP-1 and STAT pathways during RHD-induced liver injury. Rabbits were infected with 2 × 104 hemagglutination units of an RHD virus isolate. Apoptosis was documented by the presence of caspase-3 activity and substantial PARP proteolysis at 36 and 48 h postinfection (pi). Infection induced a marked and maintained expression of TNF-α from 12 h pi, while there was only a transitory increase in IL-6 expression. Expression of phosphorylated (p)-JNK, p-p38 and p-ERK1/2 was significantly elevated at 12 h pi. At 48 h pi p-JNK expression was maintained at a maximum level, while that of p-p38 returned to normality and there was no p-ERK1/2 expression. Activation of NF-κB and AP-1 and increased expression of VCAM-1 and COX-2 were observed. No significant changes were detected in activation of STAT1 and STAT3, while SOCS3 expression increased significantly. The current findings suggest that activation of JNK is an essential component in liver injury mediated by the RHD virus and that lack of activation of STAT3, probably mediated by SOCS3 over-expression, would contribute to the inhibition of the regenerative response. Data show the presence of molecular mechanisms contributing to liver damage and the lack of regeneration and they support the usefulness of this model to investigate novel therapeutical modalities in FHF

Relations between structural and EEG-based graph metrics in healthy controls and schizophrenia patients

Producción CientíficaObjective: To assess using graph-theory properties of both structural and functional networks in schizophrenia patients, as well as the possible prediction of the latter based on the former. Abnormal structural and functional network parameters have been found in schizophrenia, but the dependence of functional network properties on structural alterations has not been described yet in this syndrome. Experimental design: We applied averaged path-length (PL), clustering coefficient (CLC) and density (D) measurements to structural data derived from diffusion magnetic resonance and functional data derived from electroencephalography in 39 schizophrenia patients and 79 controls. Functional data were collected for the global and theta frequency bands with subjects performing an odd-ball task, both prior to stimulus delivery and at the corresponding processing window. Connectivity matrices were constructed respectively from (i) tractography and registered cortical segmentations (structural) and (ii) phase-locking values (functional). Principal observations: In both groups, we observed a significant EEG task-related modulation (change between pre-stimulus and response windows) in the global and theta bands. Patients showed larger structural PL and pre-stimulus density in the global and theta bands, and lower PL task-related modulation in the theta band. Structural network values predicted pre-stimulus global band values in controls and global band task-related modulation in patients. Abnormal functional values found in patients (pre-stimulus density in the global and theta bands and task-related modulation in the theta band) were not predicted by structural data in this group. Structural and functional network abnormalities respectively predicted cognitive performance and positive symptoms in patients. Conclusions: Taken together, the alterations in the structural and functional theta networks in the patients and the lack of significant relations between these alterations, suggest that these types of network abnormalities exist in different groups of schizophrenia patients.This research project was supported in part by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III under project PI15/00299, “Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León” under projects GRS 1263/A/16 and GRS 1485/A/17, and “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” and FEDER under grants TEC2014-53196-R and TEC2013-44194-P; by ‘European Commission’ and FEDER under project 'Análisis y correlación entre el genoma completo y la actividad cerebral para la ayuda en el diagnóstico de la enfermedad de Alzheimer' ('Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal POCTEP 2014-2020'), and by ‘Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León’ and FEDER under project VA037U16. J. Gomez-Pilar was in receipt of a grant from University of Valladolid and A. Lubeiro was in receipt of a grant from Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León

Influence of Phases Content on Pt/TiO 2

Different Pt/TiO2 and Pd/TiO2 catalysts were prepared by sol-gel method. The influence of different amounts of noble metals (1–5 mol-%) present on the microstructure as well as the photocatalytic property under 4-chlorophenol degradation was evaluated. The anatase phase was favored at low Pt content; however, the apparition of new phases after 3 mol-% (PtO) suggests a saturation lattice considering our solubility limit at 1 mol-%. Similar trend was observed when Pd was added to the TiO2 lattice. The as-prepared catalysts were deeply characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) with the Rietveld Method, Raman spectroscopy, high resolution scanning electron microscopy (HRSEM), scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM), Brunauer-Emmett-Teller (BET) adsorption analysis, and X-Ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Unit-cell parameter of TiO2 phases varied from 30 to 93 vol-% depending on the amount of Pt or Pd added to the composite. HRTEM and HRSEM identified the phases in the catalysts and confirmed the nanometric size and morphology of the catalysts. An improvement in removal efficiency of 4-chlorophenol was obtained in all the specimens compared with the commercial Degussa P25, which can be explained in terms of phase composition and modification of the band gap

Topography of activation deficits in schizophrenia during P300 task related to cognition and structural connectivity

Background The study of cerebral underpinnings of schizophrenia may benefit from the high temporal resolution of electromagnetic techniques, but its spatial resolution is low. However, source imaging approaches such as low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) allow for an acceptable compromise between spatial and temporal resolutions. Methods We combined LORETA with 32 channels and 3-Tesla diffusion magnetic resonance (Dmr) to study cerebral dysfunction in 38 schizophrenia patients (17 first episodes, FE), compared to 53 healthy controls. The EEG was acquired with subjects performing an odd-ball task. Analyses included an adaptive window of interest to take into account the interindividual variability of P300 latency. We compared source activation patters to distractor (P3a) and target (P3b) tones within- and between-groups. Results Patients showed a reduced activation in anterior cingulate and lateral and medial prefrontal cortices, as well as inferior/orbital frontal regions. This was also found in the FE patients alone. The activation was directly related to IQ in the patients and controls and to working memory performance in controls. Symptoms were unrelated to source activation. Fractional anisotropy in the tracts connecting lateral prefrontal and anterior cingulate regions predicted source activation in these regions in the patients. Conclusions These results replicate the source activation deficit found in a previous study with smaller sample size and a lower number of sensors and suggest an association between structural connectivity deficits and functional alterations.Postprint (author's final draft

Detección y caracterización automáticas basadas en tratamiento digital de imágenes y redes neuronales de señales tonales emitidas por cetáceos

Se presenta un nuevo método para la detección y caracterización de señales tonales emitidas por cetáceos. Las señales son atuomáticamente detectadas a partir del espectrograma, aisladas mediante un proceso de segmentación basado en regiones, extraídas tras un proceso de resolución de cruces y caracterizadas automáticamente mediante un número fijo de coeficientes derivados de la aplicación de redes neuronales de funciones de base radial. Estos coeficientes pueden ser empelados para una posterior clasificación de las señales basada en sus características. Las presentaciones del método han sido extensivamente evaluadas a partir de señales simuladas y registros de grabaciones en la mar

Everolimus plus minimized tacrolimus on kidney function in liver transplantation: REDUCE, a prospective, randomized controlled study

Background and aim: reduction in calcineurin inhibitor levels is considered crucial to decrease the incidence of kidney dysfunction in liver transplant (LT) recipients. The aim of this study was to evaluate the safety and impact of everolimus plus reduced tacrolimus (EVR + rTAC) vs. mycophenolate mofetil plus tacrolimus (MMF + TAC) on kidney function in LT recipients from Spain. Methods: the REDUCE study was a 52-week, multicenter, randomized, controlled, open-label, phase 3b study in de novo LT recipients. Eligible patients were randomized (1:1) 28 days post-transplantation to receive EVR + rTAC (TAC levels <_ 5 ng/mL) or to continue with MMF + TAC (TAC levels = 6-10 ng/mL). Mean estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), clinical benefit in renal function, and safety were evaluated. Results: in the EVR + rTAC group (n = 105), eGFR increased from randomization to week 52 (82.2 [28.5] mL/min/1.73 m2 to 86.1 [27.9] mL/min/1.73 m2) whereas it decreased in the MMF + TAC (n = 106) group (88.4 [34.3] mL/min/1.73 m2 to 83.2 [25.2] mL/min/1.73 m2), with significant (p < 0.05) differences in eGFR throughout the study. However, both groups had a similar clinical benefit regarding renal function (improvement in 18.6 % vs. 19.1 %, and stabilization in 81.4 % vs. 80.9 % of patients in the EVR + rTAC vs. MMF + TAC groups, respectively). There were no significant differences in the incidence of acute rejection (5.7 % vs. 3.8 %), deaths (5.7 % vs. 2.8 %), and serious adverse events (51.9 % vs. 44.0 %) between the 2 groups. Conclusion: EVR + rTAC allows a safe reduction in tacrolimus exposure in de novo liver transplant recipients, with a significant improvement in eGFR but without significant differences in renal clinical benefit 1 year after liver transplantation