A practical floating-gate Muller-C element using vMOS threshold gates

This paper presents the rationale for vMOS-based realizations of digital circuits when logic design techniques based on threshold logic gates are used. Some practical problems in the vMOS implementation of threshold gates have been identified and solved. The feasibility and versatility of the proposed technique as well as its potential as a low-cost design technique for CMOS technologies have been shown by experimental results from a multiple-input Muller C-element. The proposed new realization exhibits better performance related to delay and area and power consumption than the traditional logic implementation

Parental coping and distress with regard to health-related quality of life in adolescent survivors of childhood cancer

Objetivo: Explorar si la calidad de vida (CV) de los adolescentes oncológicos en remisión, está relacionada con el afrontamiento y/o el malestar emocional parental. Método: A partir de un diseño transversal, se recogió información de un total de 62 participantes (31 adolescentes oncológicos en remisión y 31 padres de los anteriores). La CV de los adolescentes fue evaluada a través del Cuestionario de Salud SF-12v2. Para evaluar el estilo de afrontamiento parental se administró el COPE en versión disposicional; y para medir su nivel de malestar emocional actual en relación al cáncer, se administraron dos escalas numéricas de 5 puntos. Los datos médicos y socio-demográficos se obtuvieron a partir de las historias clínicas. Resultados: El estilo de afrontamiento parental de vinculación con el problema (engagement) explicaba un 25% de la varianza del componente mental de CV de los adolescentes oncológicos en remisión (ß = -,500; p = ,004). Conclusiones: La CV del adolescente superviviente a un cáncer, no depende única y exclusivamente de sí mismo. El ámbito familiar en el que éste está inmerso va a tener un papel muy destacado en su adaptación. Por ello es necesario atender las necesidades tanto del paciente, como de sus padres; favoreciendo un mayor ajuste a la situación de remisión, ayudando a disminuir el malestar emocional una vez ha finalizado el tratamiento, y de algún modo, fomentando una mejor y más rápida adaptación a la normalidad de todo el núcleo familiar.Purpose: To explore whether Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) in a sample of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer is related to parental coping and/or parental emotional distress. Methods: Sixty-two participants (31 adolescent survivors of childhood cancer and 31 parents) completed several questionnaires in a cross-sectional study. HRQoL was assessed using the SF-12v2 questionnaire. Parental coping styles were assessed using the COPE (dispositional version); and their emotional distress with regard to the oncological experience was assessed by means of two 5-point numeric scales. Medical and demographical data were obtained from medical records. Results: The parental coping style of engagement explained 25% of the variance in mental component dimension of HRQoL of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer (ß = -,500; p = ,004). Conclusions: HRQoL of adolescent survivors of childhood cancer does not depend only of their own determinants. The family context will play a major role in their adaptation. Therefore it is necessary to take care of the needs of both patients and their parents, encouraging a greater adjustment to the remission phase, helping them to reduce the emotional distress after the end of treatment, and somehow, fostering a better and faster adjustment to the situation of the whole family

Diagnóstico por Imagen de la Enfermedad de Crohn

Introducción: La enfermedad de Crohn es una enfermedad inflamatoria crónica, enpacientes jóvenes con multitud de complicaciones intestinales y extraintestinales quenecesita de las técnicas de diagnóstico por imagen para evaluar la actividad, larecurrencia y la evolución.Material y métodos: Se ha realizado una búsqueda bibliográfica para comparar lastécnicas y los índices de actividad, según el diagnóstico, la actividad y la recurrenciatras el tratamiento. Obteniendo 31 artículos para la evaluación de sus resultados.Resultados: La RM-e para el diagnóstico obtuvo unos valores entorno a 83-93% Sens y90-96% Esp, la ECO 70-78% Sens y 92-93% Esp y al comparar ambas técnicas laconcordancia fue alta. La TC-e logró 88% de Sens y 88% de Esp, para la precisión delocalización y extensión fue comparable a la CE y RM-e. La TC-e para la evaluaciónprecoz de la recurrencia presentó 92% Sens y 83% Esp, la RM-e 97% Sens y 84% Esp yla ECO 89% Sens y 86% Esp. Para la detección de actividad la RM-e obtuvo 87,9% deSen y 81,2% Esp, la TC-e 85,6% Sens y 83,6% Esp, la ECO 81% Sens y 63% Esp. Laprecisión diagnóstica de los sistemas de puntuación para la enfermedad activacomparada con histología y endoscopia oscilo entre el 73% y 78%, obteniendo unosvalores de 77-85% de Sens y 62-71% de Esp. Conclusión: Para el diagnóstico inicial las técnicas de corte transversal obtuvieron losmejores resultados siendo la RM-e la más precisa aunque la CE y la ECO presentan unaalta concordancia, la TC-e resulta efectiva en sospecha de lesiones proximales. En elcontrol de la recurrencia, la RM-e y la ECO presentaron los mejores resultados para lacuración transmural, prefiriéndose la ECO por su inocuidad y la TC-e para la vigilanciaprecoz postquirúrgica. En la evaluación de la actividad no se considera una técnicasuperior a otra aunque los signos independientes de la RM-e obtienen unos valoresmuy altos de Sens y Esp. Respecto a los Índices de actividad se prefiere de MaRIA, elcual además permite diferenciar inflamación y fibrosis, aunque los cuatros índicescomparados son comparables para Sens, Esp, VPP y VPN. El índice de MaRIAsimplificado obtuvo una alta correlación significativa con CDEIS, clínica, biomarcadoresy el índice MaRIA.<br /

PERSEIA: a biomedical wireless sensor network to support healthcare delivery for the elderly and chronically Ill

Proceeding of: 28th Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society, 2006. EMBS ´06, New York, Aug. 30 2006-Sept. 3, 2006This paper presents a system based on Ambient Intelligence (AmI) to foster home care monitoring of senior citizens and chronically ill patients. The most important fact addressed in this research is the development of non intrusive and easy to use sensing devices. According to this, medical tests do not need user collaboration to perform them, neither powering on and off the sensor, starting the measure, configuring communications, etc.This work was supported in part by the Spanish Comunidad de Madrid under Grant GR/SAL/0277/2004.Publicad

Wireless Sensor Network to Support Home Care

The care of patients suffering from chronic diseases is a growing source of expense for healthcare services around the world. The implementation of new models for patients’ treatment and follow-up needs to be faced in order to increase patients’ quality of life and to reduce the costs associated. In this paper we propose a point-of-care for home care scenarios that is based on the remote monitoring of biomedical parameters

Afrontamiento y malestar emocional parental en relación a la calidad de vida del adolescente oncológico en remisión

Objetivo: Explorar si la calidad de vida (CV) de los adolescentes oncológicos en remisión, está relacionada con el afrontamiento y/o el malestar emocional parental. Método: A partir de un diseño transversal, se recogió información de un total de 62 participantes (31 adolescentes oncológicos en remisión y 31 padres de los anteriores). La CV de los adolescentes fue evaluada a través del Cuestionario de Salud SF-12v2. Para evaluar el estilo de afrontamiento parental se administró el COPE en versión disposicional; y para medir su nivel de malestar emocional actual en relación al cáncer, se administraron dos escalas numéricas de 5 puntos. Los datos médicos y socio-demográficos se obtuvieron a partir de las historias clínicas. Resultados: El estilo de afrontamiento parental de vinculación con el problema (engagement) explicaba un 25% de la varianza del componente mental de CV de los adolescentes oncológicos en remisión (ß = -,500; p = ,004). Conclusiones: La CV del adolescente superviviente a un cáncer, no depende única y exclusivamente de sí mismo. El ámbito familiar en el que éste está inmerso va a tener un papel muy destacado en su adaptación. Por ello es necesario atender las necesidades tanto del paciente, como de sus padres; favoreciendo un mayor ajuste a la situación de remisión, ayudando a disminuir el malestar emocional una vez ha finalizado el tratamiento, y de algún modo, fomentando una mejor y más rápida adaptación a la normalidad de todo el núcleo familiar

Perceived positive and negative consequences after surviving cancer and their relation to quality of life

Surviving childhood cancer has multiple implications on both physical and psychological domains of the individual. However, its study and possible effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of adolescent survivors has been understudied. The objective of this study was twofold; to assess positive and negative cancer-related consequences (psychosocial and physical) in a sample of adolescent cancer survivors and to explore their relationship with HRQoL outcomes. Forty-one participants answered two questions about positive and negative consequences in the aftermath of cancer and filled in the KIDSCREEN-52 self-reported version. Data were analysed using mixed methods approach. Overall, 87.8% of the studied sample iden- tified positive consequences and 63.4% negative consequences in survivorship. Four positive categories and five negative categories with regard to can- cer-related consequences were found. Changed perspectives in life narratives seem to be the positive consequence more related to HRQoL (physical well-being, mood & emotions, autonomy, social support & peers), followed by useful life experience (physical well-being, autonomy, social support & peers). Psychological impact was the most referred negative consequence with a significant detrimental effect on social support and peers HRQoL dimension. Even if the majority of survivors reported benefit finding in the aftermath of cancer, concomitant positive and negative consequences have been found. However, findings only reveal a significant relationship between positive narratives and HRQoL, and negative consequences do not seem to have a significant influence on overall HRQoL in survivorship

Perceived positive and negative consequences after surviving cancer and their relation to quality of life

Surviving childhood cancer has multiple implications on both physical and psychological domains of the individual. However, its study and possible effects on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) outcomes of adolescent survivors has been understudied. The objective of this study was twofold; to assess positive and negative cancer-related consequences (psychosocial and physical) in a sample of adolescent cancer survivors and to explore their relationship with HRQoL outcomes. Forty-one participants answered two questions about positive and negative consequences in the aftermath of cancer and filled in the KIDSCREEN-52 self-reported version. Data were analysed using mixed methods approach. 87.8% of the sample identified positive consequences and 63.4% negative consequences in survivorship. Four positive categories and five negative categories with regard to cancer-related consequences were found. Changed perspectives in life narratives seem to be the positive consequence more related to HRQoL (physical well-being, mood & emotions, autonomy, social support & peers), followed by useful life experience (physical well-being, autonomy, social support & peers). Psychological impact was the most referred negative consequence with a significant detrimental effect on social support and peers HRQoL dimension. Even if the majority of survivors reported benefit finding in the aftermath of cancer, concomitant positive and negative consequences have been found. However, findings only reveal a significant relationship between positive narratives and HRQoL, and negative consequences do not seem to have a significant influence on overall HRQoL in survivorship

Dickkopf Proteins and Their Role in Cancer: A Family of Wnt Antagonists with a Dual Role

Dickkopf; Wnt antagonists; Wnt signalingDickkopf; Antagonistes Wnt; Senyalització WntDickkopf; Antagonistas Wnt; Señalización WntThe Wnt signaling pathway regulates crucial aspects such as cell fate determination, cell polarity and organogenesis during embryonic development. Wnt pathway deregulation is a hallmark of several cancers such as lung, gastric and liver cancer, and has been reported to be altered in others. Despite the general agreement reached by the scientific community on the oncogenic potential of the central components of the pathway, the role of the antagonist proteins remains less clear. Deregulation of the pathway may be caused by overexpression or downregulation of a wide range of antagonist proteins. Although there is growing information related to function and regulation of Dickkopf (DKK) proteins, their pharmacological potential as cancer therapeutics still has not been fully developed. This review provides an update on the role of DKK proteins in cancer and possible potential as therapeutic targets for the treatment of cancer; available compounds in pre-clinical or clinical trials are also reviewed.This work was supported by grants from Institut Català d’Oncologia (ICO); Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI18/00398 and PI21/00640); La Marató de TV3 (201937); Fundació A.BOSCH; Rotary Clubs Barcelona Eixample, Barcelona Diagonal, Santa Coloma de Gramanet, München-Blutenburg, Deutschland Gemeindienst e.V. and others from Barcelona and province; Eric Abidal Foundation and Mi compañero de viaje