Ultrasound-based structural health monitoring methodology employing active and passive techniques

Currently, structures are examined during manufacturing by means of Non Destructive Tests (NDT), but there is an increasing interest in monitoring its integrity over its whole life cycle by using Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) strategies. The monitoring of aircraft structures is particularly important as they suffer high strain under extreme atmospheric conditions. There is an extensive literature on SHM for aviation available but there are few references on comprehensive methodologies. This article introduces a methodology, a device and the tests used in its validation. The electronic prototype for structural health monitoring applies ultrasound techniques by means of piezoelectric transducers. It is lightweight, has USB 2.0 connectivity and includes data pre-processing algorithms to improve its performance. It can run in pitch-catch and pulse-echo modes employing passive and active techniques. Passive techniques are used to detect impacts or fiber breakage in composite materials. Tests based on active techniques can bring to light several types of damages such as those caused abruptly or those produced progressively by corrosion, delamination or fatigue

Lights and pitfalls of convolutional neural networks for diatom identification

P. 1-10Diatom detection has been a challenging task for computer scientist and biologist during past years. In this work, the new state of art techniques based on the deep learning framework have been tested, in order to check whether they are suitable for this purpose. On the one hand, RCNNs (Region based Convolutional Neural Networks), which select candidate regions and applies a convolutional neural network and, on the other hand, YOLO (You Only Look Once), which applies a single neural network over the whole image, have been tested. The first one is able to reach poor results in out experimentation, with an average of 0.68 recall and some tricky aspects, as for example it is needed to apply a bounding box merging algorithm to get stable detections; but the second one gets remarkable results, with an average of 0.84 recall in the evaluation that have been carried out, and less aspects to take into account after the detection has been performed. Future work related to parameter tuning and processing are needed to increase the performance of deep learning in the detection task. However, as for classification it has been probed to provide succesfully performance.S

Low-cost oblique illumination: an image quality assessment

P. 1-14We study the effectiveness of several low-cost oblique illumination filters to improve overall image quality, in comparison with standard bright field imaging. For this purpose, a dataset composed of 3360 diatom images belonging to 21 taxa was acquired. Subjective and objective image quality assessments were done. The subjective evaluation was performed by a group of diatom experts by psychophysical test where resolution, focus, and contrast were assessed. Moreover, some objective nonreference image quality metrics were applied to the same image dataset to complete the study, together with the calculation of several texture features to analyze the effect of these filters in terms of textural properties. Both image quality evaluation methods, subjective and objective, showed better results for images acquired using these illumination filters in compari-son with the no filtered image. These promising results confirm that this kind of illumination filters can be a practical way to improve the image quality, thanks to the simple and low cost of the design and manufacturing process.S

Pharmacogenetic polymorphisms affecting bisoprolol response

This article is part of the thesis: Analysis of genetic variants associated with response to bisoprolol in patients with acute coronary syndrome with percutaneous coronary intervention with stent, within the doctoral program in Pharmacy at the University of Granada, to whom we thank for their collaboration. We would like to thank Dr. T. Eschenhagen and Dr. K. Kontula for sharing with us detailed information from their articles [16,22] which have allowed us to perform the meta-analysis.β-blockers are commonly prescribed to treat multiple cardiovascular (CV) diseases, but, frequently, adverse drug reactions and intolerance limit their use in clinical practice. Interindividual variability in response to β-blockers may be explained by genetic differences. In fact, pharmacogenetic interactions for some of these drugs have been widely studied, such as metoprolol. But studies that explore genetic variants affecting bisoprolol response are inconclusive, limited or confusing because of mixed results with other β-Blockers, different genetic polymorphisms observed, endpoint studied etc. Because of this, we performed a systematic review in order to find relevant genetic variants affecting bisoprolol response. We have found genetic polymorphism in several genes, but most of the studies focused in ADRB variants. The ADRB1 Arg389Gly (rs1801253) was the most studied genetic polymorphism and it seems to influence the response to bisoprolol, although studies are inconclusive. Even, we performed a meta-analysis about its influence on systolic/diastolic blood pressure in patients treated with bisoprolol, but this did not show statistically significant results. In conclusion, many genetic polymorphisms have been assessed about their influence on patients´ response to bisoprolol and the ADRB1 Arg389Gly (rs1801253) seems the most relevant genetic polymorphism in this regard but results have not been confirmed with a meta-analysis. Our results support the need of further studies about the impact of genetic variants on bisoprolol response, considering different genetic polymorphisms and conducting single and multiple SNPs analysis, including other clinical parameters related to bisoprolol response in a multivariate study

Clinical validation of risk scoring systems to predict risk of delayed bleeding after EMR of large colorectal lesions

[Background and Aims]: The Endoscopic Resection Group of the Spanish Society of Endoscopy (GSEED-RE) model and the Australian Colonic Endoscopic Resection (ACER) model were proposed to predict delayed bleeding (DB) after EMR of large superficial colorectal lesions, but neither has been validated. We validated and updated these models.[Methods]: A multicenter cohort study was performed in patients with nonpedunculated lesions ≥20 mm removed by EMR. We assessed the discrimination and calibration of the GSEED-RE and ACER models. Difficulty performing EMR was subjectively categorized as low, medium, or high. We created a new model, including factors associated with DB in 3 cohort studies.[Results]: DB occurred in 45 of 1034 EMRs (4.5%); it was associated with proximal location (odds ratio [OR], 2.84; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-6.16), antiplatelet agents (OR, 2.51; 95% CI, .99-6.34) or anticoagulants (OR, 4.54; 95% CI, 2.14-9.63), difficulty of EMR (OR, 3.23; 95% CI, 1.41-7.40), and comorbidity (OR, 2.11; 95% CI, .99-4.47). The GSEED-RE and ACER models did not accurately predict DB. Re-estimation and recalibration yielded acceptable results (GSEED-RE area under the curve [AUC], .64 [95% CI, .54-.74]; ACER AUC, .65 [95% CI, .57-.73]). We used lesion size, proximal location, comorbidity, and antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy to generate a new model, the GSEED-RE2, which achieved higher AUC values (.69-.73; 95% CI, .59-.80) and exhibited lower susceptibility to changes among datasets.[Conclusions]: The updated GSEED-RE and ACER models achieved acceptable prediction levels of DB. The GSEED-RE2 model may achieve better prediction results and could be used to guide the management of patients after validation by other external groups. (Clinical trial registration number: NCT 03050333.)Research support for this study was received from “La Caixa/Caja Navarra” Foundation (ID 100010434;project PR15/11100006)

Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis

[Purpose]: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality. [Methods]: Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015.Patients were stratified into three age groups:<65 years,65 to 80 years,and ≥ 80 years.The area under the receiver-operating characteristic (AUROC) curve was calculated to quantify the diagnostic accuracy of the CCI to predict mortality risk. [Results]: A total of 3120 patients with IE (1327 < 65 years;1291 65-80 years;502 ≥ 80 years) were enrolled.Fever and heart failure were the most common presentations of IE, with no differences among age groups.Patients ≥80 years who underwent surgery were significantly lower compared with other age groups (14.3%,65 years; 20.5%,65-79 years; 31.3%,≥80 years). In-hospital mortality was lower in the <65-year group (20.3%,<65 years;30.1%,65-79 years;34.7%,≥80 years;p < 0.001) as well as 1-year mortality (3.2%, <65 years; 5.5%, 65-80 years;7.6%,≥80 years; p = 0.003).Independent predictors of mortality were age ≥ 80 years (hazard ratio [HR]:2.78;95% confidence interval [CI]:2.32–3.34), CCI ≥ 3 (HR:1.62; 95% CI:1.39–1.88),and non-performed surgery (HR:1.64;95% CI:11.16–1.58).When the three age groups were compared,the AUROC curve for CCI was significantly larger for patients aged <65 years(p < 0.001) for both in-hospital and 1-year mortality. [Conclusion]: There were no differences in the clinical presentation of IE between the groups. Age ≥ 80 years, high comorbidity (measured by CCI),and non-performance of surgery were independent predictors of mortality in patients with IE.CCI could help to identify those patients with IE and surgical indication who present a lower risk of in-hospital and 1-year mortality after surgery, especially in the <65-year group

Gestión del conocimiento. Perspectiva multidisciplinaria. Volumen 8

El libro “Gestión del Conocimiento. Perspectiva Multidisciplinaria”, volumen 8, de la Colección Unión Global, es resultado de investigaciones. Los capítulos del libro, son resultados de investigaciones desarrolladas por sus autores. El libro es una publicación internacional, seriada, continua, arbitrada de acceso abierto a todas las áreas del conocimiento, que cuenta con el esfuerzo de investigadores de varios países del mundo, orientada a contribuir con procesos de gestión del conocimiento científico, tecnológico y humanístico que consoliden la transformación del conocimiento en diferentes escenarios, tanto organizacionales como universitarios, para el desarrollo de habilidades cognitivas del quehacer diario. La gestión del conocimiento es un camino para consolidar una plataforma en las empresas públicas o privadas, entidades educativas, organizaciones no gubernamentales, ya sea generando políticas para todas las jerarquías o un modelo de gestión para la administración, donde es fundamental articular el conocimiento, los trabajadores, directivos, el espacio de trabajo, hacia la creación de ambientes propicios para el desarrollo integral de las instituciones

Analysis of shared heritability in common disorders of the brain

ience, this issue p. eaap8757 Structured Abstract INTRODUCTION Brain disorders may exhibit shared symptoms and substantial epidemiological comorbidity, inciting debate about their etiologic overlap. However, detailed study of phenotypes with different ages of onset, severity, and presentation poses a considerable challenge. Recently developed heritability methods allow us to accurately measure correlation of genome-wide common variant risk between two phenotypes from pools of different individuals and assess how connected they, or at least their genetic risks, are on the genomic level. We used genome-wide association data for 265,218 patients and 784,643 control participants, as well as 17 phenotypes from a total of 1,191,588 individuals, to quantify the degree of overlap for genetic risk factors of 25 common brain disorders. RATIONALE Over the past century, the classification of brain disorders has evolved to reflect the medical and scientific communities' assessments of the presumed root causes of clinical phenomena such as behavioral change, loss of motor function, or alterations of consciousness. Directly observable phenomena (such as the presence of emboli, protein tangles, or unusual electrical activity patterns) generally define and separate neurological disorders from psychiatric disorders. Understanding the genetic underpinnings and categorical distinctions for brain disorders and related phenotypes may inform the search for their biological mechanisms. RESULTS Common variant risk for psychiatric disorders was shown to correlate significantly, especially among attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), bipolar disorder, major depressive disorder (MDD), and schizophrenia. By contrast, neurological disorders appear more distinct from one another and from the psychiatric disorders, except for migraine, which was significantly correlated to ADHD, MDD, and Tourette syndrome. We demonstrate that, in the general population, the personality trait neuroticism is significantly correlated with almost every psychiatric disorder and migraine. We also identify significant genetic sharing between disorders and early life cognitive measures (e.g., years of education and college attainment) in the general population, demonstrating positive correlation with several psychiatric disorders (e.g., anorexia nervosa and bipolar disorder) and negative correlation with several neurological phenotypes (e.g., Alzheimer's disease and ischemic stroke), even though the latter are considered to result from specific processes that occur later in life. Extensive simulations were also performed to inform how statistical power, diagnostic misclassification, and phenotypic heterogeneity influence genetic correlations. CONCLUSION The high degree of genetic correlation among many of the psychiatric disorders adds further evidence that their current clinical boundaries do not reflect distinct underlying pathogenic processes, at least on the genetic level. This suggests a deeply interconnected nature for psychiatric disorders, in contrast to neurological disorders, and underscores the need to refine psychiatric diagnostics. Genetically informed analyses may provide important "scaffolding" to support such restructuring of psychiatric nosology, which likely requires incorporating many levels of information. By contrast, we find limited evidence for widespread common genetic risk sharing among neurological disorders or across neurological and psychiatric disorders. We show that both psychiatric and neurological disorders have robust correlations with cognitive and personality measures. Further study is needed to evaluate whether overlapping genetic contributions to psychiatric pathology may influence treatment choices. Ultimately, such developments may pave the way toward reduced heterogeneity and improved diagnosis and treatment of psychiatric disorders

Educación ambiental y sociedad. Saberes locales para el desarrollo y la sustentabilidad

EL LIBRO PERMITE REFLEXIONAR SOBRE LA IMPORTANCIA DE FOMENTAL LA EDUCACIÓN AMBIENTAL PARA RESOLVER LA PROBLEMÁTICA AMBIENTALEL LIBRO PRESENTA DIFERENTES TRABAJOS QUE ESTUDIAN EL TEMA D ELA SUSTENTABILIDAD, ENFATIZANDO LA IMPORTANCIA DE LA EDUCACIÓN AMBIENTAL Y LA TRANSDISCIPLINANINGUN