Enhancing steganography for hiding pixels inside audio signals

Multimodal steganography consists of concealing a signal into another one of a different medium, such that the latter is only very slightly distorted and the hidden information can be later recovered. A previous work employed deep learning techniques to this end by hiding an image inside an audio signal's spectrogram in a way that the encoding of one is independent of the other. In this work we explore the way in which images were being encoded previously and present a collection of improvements that produce a significant increase in the quality of the system. These mainly consist in encoding the image in a smarter way such that more information is able to be transmitted in a container of the same size. We also explore the possibility of using the short-time Fourier transform phase as an alternative to the magnitude and to randomly permute the signal to break the structure of the noise. Finally, we report results when using a larger container signal and outline possible directions for future work

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in the early-onset colorectal cancer

COVID-19 pandemic; Early-onset colorectal cancerPandemia de COVID-19 Cáncer colorrectal precozPandèmia de COVID-19; Càncer colorectal precoçThe COVID19 pandemic has affected the spectrum of cancer care worldwide. Early onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) is defined as diagnosis below the age of 50. Patients with EOCRC faced multiple challenges during the COVID19 pandemic and in some institutions it jeopardized cancer diagnosis and care delivery. Our study aims to identify the clinicopathological features and outcomes of patients with EOCRC in our Centre during the first wave of the pandemic in comparison with the same period in 2019 and 2021. Patients with EOCRC visited for the first time at Vall d'Hebron University Hospital in Spain from the 1st March to 31st August of 2019, 2020 and 2021 were included in the analysis. 177 patients with EOCRC were visited for the first time between 2019 and 2021, of which 90 patients met the inclusion criteria (2019: 30 patients, 2020: 29 patients, 2021: 31 patients). Neither differences in frequency nor in stage at diagnosis or at first visit during the given periods were observed. Of note, indication of systemic therapy in the adjuvant or metastatic setting was not altered. Days to treatment initiation and enrollment in clinical trials in this subpopulation was not affected due to the COVID-19 outbreak.This work was supported by the Cancer Research UK (CRUK) grant OPTIMISTICC (C10674/A27140)

TFG 2013/2014

Amb aquesta publicació, EINA, Centre universitari de Disseny i Art adscrit a la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, dóna a conèixer el recull dels Treballs de Fi de Grau presentats durant el curs 2013-2014. Voldríem que un recull com aquest donés una idea més precisa de la tasca que es realitza a EINA per tal de formar nous dissenyadors amb capacitat de respondre professionalment i intel·lectualment a les necessitats i exigències de la nostra societat. El treball formatiu s’orienta a oferir resultats que responguin tant a paràmetres de rigor acadèmic i capacitat d’anàlisi del context com a l’experimentació i la creació de nous llenguatges, tot fomentant el potencial innovador del disseny.Con esta publicación, EINA, Centro universitario de diseño y arte adscrito a la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, da a conocer la recopilación de los Trabajos de Fin de Grado presentados durante el curso 2013-2014. Querríamos que una recopilación como ésta diera una idea más precisa del trabajo que se realiza en EINA para formar nuevos diseñadores con capacidad de responder profesional e intelectualmente a las necesidades y exigencias de nuestra sociedad. El trabajo formativo se orienta a ofrecer resultados que respondan tanto a parámetros de rigor académico y capacidad de análisis, como a la experimentación y la creación de nuevos lenguajes, al tiempo que se fomenta el potencial innovador del diseño.With this publication, EINA, University School of Design and Art, affiliated to the Autonomous University of Barcelona, brings to the public eye the Final Degree Projects presented during the 2013-2014 academic year. Our hope is that this volume might offer a more precise idea of the task performed by EINA in training new designers, able to speak both professionally and intellectually to the needs and demands of our society. The educational task is oriented towards results that might respond to the parameters of academic rigour and the capacity for contextual analysis, as well as to considerations of experimentation and the creation of new languages, all the while reinforcing design’s innovative potential

The Use of AlphaFold for in silico exploration of drug targets in the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi

Chagas disease is a devastating neglected disease caused by the parasite Trypanosoma cruzi, which affects millions of people worldwide. The two anti-parasitic drugs available, nifurtimox and benznidazole, have a good efficacy against the acute stage of the infection. But this is short, usually asymptomatic and often goes undiagnosed. Access to treatment is mostly achieved during the chronic stage, when the cardiac and/or digestive life-threatening symptoms manifest. Then, the efficacy of both drugs is diminished, and their long administration regimens involve frequently associated adverse effects that compromise treatment compliance. Therefore, the discovery of safer and more effective drugs is an urgent need. Despite its advantages over lately used phenotypic screening, target-based identification of new anti-parasitic molecules has been hampered by incomplete annotation and lack of structures of the parasite protein space. Presently, the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database is home to 19,036 protein models from T. cruzi, which could hold the key to not only describe new therapeutic approaches, but also shed light on molecular mechanisms of action for known compounds. In this proof-of-concept study, we screened the AlphaFold T. cruzi set of predicted protein models to find prospective targets for a pre-selected list of compounds with known anti-trypanosomal activity using docking-based inverse virtual screening. The best receptors (targets) for the most promising ligands were analyzed in detail to address molecular interactions and potential drugs' mode of action. The results provide insight into the mechanisms of action of the compounds and their targets, and pave the way for new strategies to finding novel compounds or optimize already existing ones

Botulinum toxin type A inhibits Ca2+-dependent transport of acetylcholine in reconstituted giant liposomes made from presynaptic membranes from cholinergic nerve terminals

Giant liposomes were made from a mixture of asolectin phospholipid vesicles and presynaptic plasma membranes isolated from Torpedo cholinergic nerve; endings. Acetylcholine filled giant liposomes were able to release neurotransmitter upon stimulation by the Ca2+ ionophore A23187 and Ca2+. Botulinum neurotoxin type A inhibited this Ca2+-dependent acetylcholine transport. Additionally, Botulinum toxin type A decreased membrane fluidity of liposomes. These results suggest that Botulinum toxin can interact directly with components of the presynaptic plasma membrane and inhibit acetylcholine translocation. Furthermore, since the reconstituted liposomes do not have synaptic vesicle components, the observed effects may account for the action of Botulinum toxin on the non-quantal release of acetylcholine from motor nerve terminals.This work is supported by grants from DGICYT (Ministerio de Educacion, Spain) to C.S., J.M. and J.M.G.R. Elena Lopez-Alonso is a fellow of Generalitat de Valencia.Peer reviewe