Bilateral Internuclear Ophthalmoplegia in a Young Woman with Vertebral Artery Dissection

Background: Internuclear ophthalmoplegia (INO) is an eye movement disorder caused by a lesion in the medial longitudinal fasciculus (MLF) located in the midbrain. Adduction paralysis of both eyes and bilateral abduction nystagmus are the main features of INO[1]. Case presentation: A 29-year-old Hispanic woman was admitted to the emergency department complaining of an intense holocranial headache lasting 9 days, associated with nausea and vomiting. She was discharged home with resolution of the headache but persistence of symptoms. However, she subsequently developed horizontal diplopia and gait abnormalities. She was readmitted to hospital because of anomalous eye movements and conjugate gaze palsy, manifested as bilateral INO. Magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) findings were consistent with dissection of the left V4 vertebral artery with multiple brain infarcts in the superior cerebellar artery territory, comprising both MLF tracts. Conclusions: In young adults, bilateral INO is normally caused by demyelinating disease. In other patients, common causes include trauma, infections and autoimmune diseases with neurological symptoms. Vascular disease is implicated in over a third of cases

The Spanish SpaceWeather Service SeNMEs. A Case Study on the Sun-Earth Chain

Comunicación presentada en el Coimbra Solar Physics Meeting, 5-9 October 2015, Coimbra, PortugalThe Spanish Space Weather Service SeNMEs, www.senmes.es, is a portal created by the SRG-SW of the Universidad de Alcalá, Spain, to meet societal needs of near real-time space weather services. This webpage-portal is divided in different sections to fulfill users needs about space weather effects: radio blackouts, solar energetic particle events, geomagnetic storms and presence of geomagnetically induced currents. In less than one year of activity, this service has released a daily report concerning the solar current status and interplanetary medium, informing about the chances of a solar perturbation to hit the Earth’s environment. There are also two different forecasting tools for geomagnetic storms, and a daily ionospheric map. These tools allow us to nowcast a variety of solar eruptive events and forecast geomagnetic storms and their recovery, including a new local geomagnetic index, LDiñ, along with some specific new scaling. In this paper we also include a case study analysed by SeNMEs. Using different high resolution and cadence data from space-borne solar telescopes SDO, SOHO and GOES, along with ionospheric and geomagnetic data, we describe the Sun-Earth feature chain for the event.MINECO project AYA2013-47735PPeer reviewe

Mechanical behavior and microstructural changes in polyurethane exposed to high doses of X rays, gamma rays or neutron irradiation

Polymeric materials are widely used in applications where the environmental conditions entail their exposure to different sources of irradiation (in most cases ultraviolet or low dose of electromagnetic irradiation for sterilization). In contrast, in this study we have assessed the modifications undergone by a series of polyurethane joints exposed to high radioactive doses of either X-rays or gamma rays (with doses of 20.5, 100, 300 and 900?kGy) or neutron irradiation (with a fluence of 7.23·1010 n/cm2) which are typical of the environment of nuclear reactors. Tensile tests were carried out to assess the change in mechanical properties derived from the radioactive exposure. Three mechanical parameters were used to monitor the evolution of strength, ductility and toughness: the tensile strength (?max), the strain corresponding to ?max (??max) and the density of energy absorbed prior to maximum load (U?max). With regards to X and gamma rays, a negative impact of radiation on strength, ductility and toughness was observed. The detailed statistical analysis of the results has shown that a threshold dose of 300?kGy must be overcome to trigger the damage process. For the fluence employed in this study, neutron irradiation produced very little change in the mechanical properties. The SEM fractographic study has allowed the influence of irradiation on the material failure mechanisms to be identified. Thus, the fracture surface of unirradiated samples shows evidence of plastic deformation and ductile tearing. In contrast, the fracture surface of those samples exposed to a dose of 900?kGy corresponds to brittle fracture. In a consistent way, samples exposed to neutron irradiation have a fracture surface similar to that of the non-irradiated material. In summary, electromagnetic radiation for doses above the threshold leads to the embrittlement of polyurethane. Raman spectroscopy was employed to identify the microstructural changes induced by the different sources of radiation at the molecular level. The band corresponding to the vibration of the C-H bending bonds present in the polyurethane was measured as a function of the dose, finding a strong correlation between its vibration frequency and the dose of exposure to electromagnetic radiation. This shift is more sensitive than the mechanical material response since the frequency is affected at doses of 100?kGy, below the threshold previously identified for any of the mechanical properties. This correlation opens the door for the use of Raman spectroscopy as a novel non-destructive tool to characterize the microstructural effect of irradiation on polyurethane

Can multinational companies foster institutional change and sustainable development in emerging countries? A case study.

Emerging countries present institutional necessities that hinder their sustainable development. In the face of this challenge, companies, and in particular multinational companies (MNCs), can foster sustainable development through their corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives. This study focuses on the role of institutional change in transforming CSR into sustainable development in emerging countries. To this end, we propose a view of CSR focused on its institutional determinants and outcomes from a social and developmental perspective. By using quantitative and qualitative data, we analyse the case of three MNCs from different industries based in Europe and operating in Mexico. The case study shows how firms can stimulate institutional change in developing economies and contribute to their sustainable development as measured by the sustainable development goals. Various mechanisms about how this process is made are devised: institutional entrepreneurship, multistakeholder initiatives, interconnection of different institutional dimensions, and subsidiary entrepreneurship. The case study highlights the interaction among MNCs, developing countries, and institutions and how firms' sustainable actions scale up to the macro level.post-print399 K

La República española (Ávila)

Título tomado de la cabeceraDescripción basada en: Año III, n. 408 (oct. 1895

El Zumbo (Ávila. 1897)

Título tomado de la cabecer

Ingeniería conducida por modelos en sistemas de automatización flexibles

Jornadas de Automática (37ª. 2017. Gijón

Detection of human calicivirus (Small round structured virus - SRSV) using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in oysters from São Paulo beaches, Brazil.

Vírus causadores de gastroenterite, descritos como pequenos vírus de estrutura arredondada (Small Round Structured Viruses-SRSV), foram detectados em extratos de ostras Crassostrea spp., coletadas em regiões distintas do litoral do Estado de São Paulo, utilizando a Reação em Cadeia por Polimerase com transcrição reversa (RT-PCR).Treze lotes de amostras, contendo 10 g de estômagos e divertículos, foram processados para extração e concentração das partículas virais, mediante adsorção-eluição e precipitação por polietilenoglicol (PEG 6000), e purificação com fluorocarbono (Freon, Dupont Co.) para eliminação prévia dos inibidores da reação de RT-PCR. A extração do ácido nucleico viral, foi realizada com uma mistura de isotiocianato de guanidina e fenol (TRIzol ®, Gibco) e clorofórmio, sendo completada com uma purificação em coluna spin, com membrana de polissulfona (Millipore,Corp.). A reação de RT-PCR foi realizada em uma única etapa, utilizando o kit \'\'Super Script ONE-STEP RT-PCR System\'\'® (Gibco). A reação de amplificação enzimática revelou, por eletroforese em gel de agarose (2%), corada com brometo de etídio, produtos de 123 bp, em 3 (23%) dos 13 lotes de amostras coletadas durante o verão de 1998, sendo verificadas em uma delas por imunomicroscopia eletrônica (IME),partículas de SRSV. Os produtos encontrados pertencem ao grupo genômico G2(Snow Mountain e outros vírus). A aplicação deste método possibilitou pela 1ª vez a detecção molecular de SRSVs no Brasil em ostras naturalmente contaminadas.The Small Round Structured Viruses (SRSVs) have been associated with gastroenteritis in humans, and were detected in extracts of oysters Crassostrea spp., by Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT - PCR). Thirteen lots of samples, originated from different regions of the State of São Paulo, were processed for viral particles extraction. The samples, containing 10 g of stomach and diverticula, were extracted by adsorption - elution and polyethylene glycol (PEG 6000) precipitation, and fluorocarbon (Freon, Dupont Co.) was used for purification and previous elimination of RT - PCR inhibitors. For the viral nucleic acid extraction, guanidine isothiocyanate - phenol mixture (TrizolÒ, Gibco ) and chloroform were used, followed by a polysulfone spin column (Millipore, Corp.) purification. The RT-PCR was done in one step, using the \'\'Super Script ONE-STEP RT-PCR System\'\'® (Gibco). The enzimatic amplification reaction run in 2% agarose gel electrophoresis stained with ethidium bromide, revealed 123 bp products in 3 (23%) of the 13 lots of samples collected during the summer of 1998. One of these three samples was positive for SRSV particles by Immune Electron Microscopy (IEM). These 3 products were classified in the Genogroup G2 (Snow Mountain and others viruses). The application of this methodology made it possible to detected, in a molecular basis, the first cases of SRSVs in environmentally contaminated oysters in Brazil

Sustainability and Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): From Moral Imperatives to Indicators and Indexes. A Methodology for Validating and Assessing SDGs

Sustainability is a multidimensional concept that is not directly measurable, so it requires a set of indicators in order to be assessed. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) program offers a detailed dashboard of sustainability indicators. However, the path from the value assumptions and policy (that underpin this program) to its statistical operationalization is not clear. In order to produce usable knowledge for policy, sustainability assessment needs to be redefined from a technical to a moral process that requires prior responses to normative questions. This chapter suggests a model for sustainable development based on a set of moral imperatives which further specify the popular three-pillar model of sustainability based on social, economic, and environmental dimensions. The aim of this study was thus threefold. Firstly, it aimed to clarify the conceptual framework that is the foundation of country-level sustainability. Secondly, it proposes a methodology for assessing the different moral dimensions of sustainability. Finally, it aimed to validate this framework and also to assess the state of art of each of the European Union (EU) Member States with regard to the SDGs. Operationally, using the latest available national cross-country data with multivariate statistical analysis, the study builds several composite indexes to assess the performance of European Member States on single imperatives, in order to identify priorities and gaps that must be addressed to achieve sustainability