Factores que influnyen en los resultados de la corrección quirúrgica de la incontinencia urinaria por tratamiento de cáncer de próstata

[ES]Los resultados principales de nuestro estudio permiten identificar una serie de características que se asocian al éxito o al fracaso de diferentes dispositivos para el tratamiento de la incontinencia urinaria por tratamiento del cáncer de próstata. Hasta lo que conocemos, es el primer estudio comparativo que incluye cuatro dispositivos de reparación quirúrgica (cinta suburetral transobturatriz no regulable, Remeex®, esfínter AMS 800® y cinta suburetral transobturatriz regulable), que hemos comparado entre sí y de forma pareada con respecto a variables clínicas del paciente y variables específicas de la enfermedad. Aunque existe una gran cantidad de datos publicados sobre la eficacia, complicaciones y satisfacción del paciente con estos dispositivos, la calidad de estos artículos no cumple con los criterios de calidad de la medicina basada en la evidencia. Los datos son heterogéneos, los estudios son de baja calidad, las definiciones de éxito varían entre los diferentes autores y no existen estudios con seguimiento a largo plazo. Todo ello hace que las comparaciones entre estudios, entre grupos de pacientes y en términos de resultados sea dificultosa, de ahí la relevancia y la importancia del estudio realizado en esta tesis doctoral y de nuestros resultados

Employment of conventional and flash pyrolysis for biomass wastes from the textile industry with sustainable prospects

Producción CientíficaThe textile industry generates millions of tons of waste annually, making this sector one of the most polluting in the world. The objective of this research was to study the energy potential of three industrial textile wastes of vegetable and animal origin: CW (card waste), SFW (short fibre waste) and W (wool), using conventional and flash pyrolysis at 500 °C and 750 °C. CW and SFW thermogravimetric profiles were very different from W. In general, the bio-oil yield was higher in the conventional and in the low-temperature flash pyrolysis (up to 55 %). The gas obtained by flash pyrolysis at 750 °C has higher flue gas content and lower CO2 content so their high heating value (HHV) is higher (up to 15.34 MJ/kg). Bio-oils obtained by flash pyrolysis at high temperature stood out for their higher HHV (>30 MJ/kg), with the highest value (34.15 MJ/kg) obtained from SFW waste. Both low temperature flash pyrolysis and conventional pyrolysis produce bio-oils that contain aromatic (35–48 %) and non-aromatic (18–34 %) organic compounds. Additionally, they have high levels of phenols and benzenes. High-temperature flash pyrolysis bio-oils are mainly composed of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The textile samples are suitable for an energetic valorisation, highlighting the best SWF behaviour.Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) grant JAE INTRO ICU SCHOLARSHIP 2019 [Ref. JAEICU-19-INCAR-15]Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and (UE) projects (PDC2022-133394-I00) and (PID2021-124347OB-I00

Lithium-Ion Battery Parameter Identification via Extremum Seeking Considering Aging and Degradation

Battery parameters such as State of Charge (SoC) and State of Health (SoH) are key to modern applications; thus, there is interest in developing robust algorithms for estimating them. Most of the techniques explored to this end rely on a battery model. As batteries age, their behavior starts differing from the models, so it is vital to update such models in order to be able to track battery behavior after some time in application. This paper presents a method for performing online battery parameter tracking by using the Extremum Seeking (ES) algorithm. This algorithm fits voltage waveforms by tuning the internal parameters of an estimation model and comparing the voltage output with the real battery. The goal is to estimate the electrical parameters of the battery model and to be able to obtain them even as batteries age, when the model behaves different than the cell. To this end, a simple battery model capable of capturing degradation and different tests have been proposed to replicate real application scenarios, and the performance of the ES algorithm in such scenarios has been measured. The results are positive, obtaining converging estimations both with new and aged batteries, with accurate outputs for the intended purpose

El túnel aerodinámico ACLA-16 de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Cuando en 1994, a consecuencia de la remodelación general del edificio principal de la Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingenieros Aeronáuticos (ETSIA), fue preciso desmantelar las primitivas instalaciones de ensayos aerodinámicos existentes en el Laboratorio de Aerodinámica de la E.T.S.I. Aeronáuticos (la mayoría de las cuales fueron construidas bajo la dirección del Profesor Ignacio Da Riva [1]),se decidió que tras la remodelación del Laboratorio el diseño de las nuevas instalaciones debería estar orientado a dotar a la Escuela de las instalaciones de ensayos precisas para satisfacer las necesidades de ensayos aerodinámicos de las empresas nacionales. Con este objetivo en mente, y habida cuenta de los diferentes requisitos que se exigen a las instalaciones para ensayos aeronáuticos y a las dedicadas a ensayos no aeronáuticos, se decidió que con los presupuestos y disponibilidades existente las instalaciones de ensayos aerodinámicos de la E.T.S.I.A. debían estar orientadas hacia lo que se conoce como aerodinámica civil, de modo que se optó por el desarrollo de túneles aerodinámicos de baja velocidad, con calidades de vena fluida no tan exigentes como las requeridas en los túneles de uso aeronáutic

PLANNING ROUTES AND SHIFTS DRIVING FOR A SMALL BUSINESS OF ROAD PASSENGER TRANSPORT

The presented work is done for a company that currently operates twenty lines of passenger transport in the metropolitan area of Seville. The planning of these was originally carried out manually, building routes and shifts in an Excel spreadsheet. In order to automate the process as much as possible. It was designed and implemented by a scheduling algorithm that would be much simple than other algorithms in the literature and that, in addition, would make it possible to allow mixing vehicles and drivers between the lines. The objective was, firstly, to employ the minimum number of drivers; then, it is trying to use the least possible number of vehicles; finally, the study tries to reduce as much as possible the amount of split shifts. In addition, restrictions on the design of routes and shifts were added. At all times the service frequencies remained above the set limit. To allow the possibility of unexpected demand peaks, was established in the capacity of each route some slack

New Technologies to Improve Pain, Anxiety and Depression in Children and Adolescents with Cancer: A Systematic Review

Pain, anxiety, or depression are very prevalent in children and adolescents with cancer, which is a great challenge for health professionals. Several studies pointing out the positive effect of technology on the management of symptoms have been published in recent years. Considering these studies is important in order to reduce the negative impact on the quality of life of this population. This study aimed to analyze the available evidence and to describe the benefits of the new technologies in the treatment of pain, anxiety, and depression in children and adolescents with cancer. A systematic search using six electronic databases was conducted to identify studies using technological interventions with a focus on pain, anxiety, and depression that were published from 2008 to 2018 including oncology patients from 0–18 years old. Out of the 1261 studies that were identified, five studies met the inclusion criteria for this systematic review. Robots were used in two studies, providing amusement and social interventions that showed significant improvements. Virtual reality, a mobile application, and a videogame were used in three studies and obtained beneficial results in pain and anxiety. The studies included in this review suggest that new technologies can be used as an innovative form of non-pharmacological intervention with therapeutic benefit

Tenofovir Nephrotoxicity: 2011 Update

Tenofovir is an acyclic nucleotide analogue reverse-transcriptase inhibitor structurally similar to the nephrotoxic drugs adefovir and cidofovir. Tenofovir is widely used to treat HIV infection and approved for treatment of hepatitis B virus. Despite initial cell culture and clinical trials results supporting the renal safety of tenofovir, its clinical use is associated with a low, albeit significant, risk of kidney injury. Proximal tubular cell secretion of tenofovir explains the accumulation of the drug in these mitochondria-rich cells. Tenofovir nephrotoxicity is characterized by proximal tubular cell dysfunction that may be associated with acute kidney injury or chronic kidney disease. Withdrawal of the drug leads to improvement of analytical parameters that may be partial. Understanding the risk factors for nephrotoxicity and regular monitoring of proximal tubular dysfunction and serum creatinine in high-risk patients is required to minimize nephrotoxicity. Newer, structurally similar molecular derivatives that do not accumulate in proximal tubules are under study

L-Arginine Ameliorates Defective Autophagy in GM2 Gangliosidoses by mTOR Modulation.

AIMS: Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases (GM2 gangliosidosis) are autosomal recessive disorders of lysosomal function that cause progressive neurodegeneration in infants and young children. Impaired hydrolysis catalysed by β-hexosaminidase A (HexA) leads to the accumulation of GM2 ganglioside in neuronal lysosomes. Despite the storage phenotype, the role of autophagy and its regulation by mTOR has yet to be explored in the neuropathogenesis. Accordingly, we investigated the effects on autophagy and lysosomal integrity using skin fibroblasts obtained from patients with Tay-Sachs and Sandhoff diseases. RESULTS: Pathological autophagosomes with impaired autophagic flux, an abnormality confirmed by electron microscopy and biochemical studies revealing the accelerated release of mature cathepsins and HexA into the cytosol, indicating increased lysosomal permeability. GM2 fibroblasts showed diminished mTOR signalling with reduced basal mTOR activity. Accordingly, provision of a positive nutrient signal by L-arginine supplementation partially restored mTOR activity and ameliorated the cytopathological abnormalities. INNOVATION: Our data provide a novel molecular mechanism underlying GM2 gangliosidosis. Impaired autophagy caused by insufficient lysosomal function might represent a new therapeutic target for these diseases. CONCLUSIONS: We contend that the expression of autophagy/lysosome/mTOR-associated molecules may prove useful peripheral biomarkers for facile monitoring of treatment of GM2 gangliosidosis and neurodegenerative disorders that affect the lysosomal function and disrupt autophagy

HIV and HCV screening by non-infectious diseases physicians: can we improve testing and hidden infection rates?

BackgroundMissed opportunities for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) testing remain high. We aimed to ascertain the knowledge of screening guidelines and attitudes of non-infectious disease (ID) hospital physicians and assess the impact of a 1-h session on screening rates and diagnoses.MethodsThis interventional study consisted of a 1-h training session on HIV and HCV epidemiology and testing guidelines for non-ID physicians. Pre-and post-session questionnaires compared the knowledge of the guidelines and attitudes toward screening before and after the session. Rates of screening and diagnoses were compared in three 6 months periods: before, immediately after, and 24 months ±4 after the session.ResultsA total of 345 physicians from 31 departments participated in these sessions. Before the session, 19.9% (28% medical, 8% surgical) and 17.9% (30% medical, 2.7% surgical) were aware of HIV and HCV testing guidelines, respectively. The willingness to routinely test increased from 5.6 to 22%, whereas not ordering tests decreased from 34.1 to 2.4%. HIV screening rates significantly increased by 20% after the session (7.7 vs. 9.3 tests per 103 patients; p < 0.001), and the effect persisted until the long-term period. The HIV diagnosis rate increased globally (3.6 vs. 5.2 HIV diagnoses per 105 patients; p = 0.157), mainly because of medical services (4.7 vs. 7.7 per 105 patients; p = 0.082). The HCV screening rate increased significantly immediately and in the long term only in medical services (15.7 and 13.6%, respectively). The new active HCV infection rates increased immediately and declined steeply thereafter.ConclusionA short session for non-ID physicians can improve HIV/HCV screening, increase diagnosis, and contribute to disease elimination