El blog "Parlem català": primeros pasos para su vinculación al aula

En aquest article es posen de manifest alguns casos d'èxit que han permès vincular a les aules del Centre de Normalització Lingüística de l'Hospitalet el blog "Parlem català" i exposar l'experiència a la I Jornada Aprendre Llengües al Segle XXI, que va tenir lloc a Barcelona el 18 i 19 de juny de 2012.The article highlights some of the cases which have successfully enabled the Parlem català blog to be linked to classes at the Hospitalet Centre for Language Standardisation, and describes the experience of the 1st Symposium on Language Learning in the 21st Century, which took place in Barcelona on 18 and 19 June 2012.En este artículo se ponen de manifiesto algunos casos de éxito que han permitido vincular a las aulas del Centro de Normalización Lingüística de L’Hospitalet el blog Parlem català y exponer la experiencia en la I Jornada Aprender Lenguas en el Siglo xxi, que se celebró en Barcelona el 18 y 19 de junio de 2012

Surface Glucan Structures in Aeromonas spp.

Aeromonas spp. are generally found in aquatic environments, although they have also been isolated from both fresh and processed food. These Gram-negative, rod-shaped bacteria are mostly infective to poikilothermic animals, although they are also considered opportunistic pathogens of both aquatic and terrestrial homeotherms, and some species have been associated with gastrointestinal and extraintestinal septicemic infections in humans. Among the different pathogenic factors associated with virulence, several cell-surface glucans have been shown to contribute to colonization and survival of Aeromonas pathogenic strains, in different hosts. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), capsule and α-glucan structures, for instance, have been shown to play important roles in bacterial-host interactions related to pathogenesis, such as adherence, biofilm formation, or immune evasion. In addition, glycosylation of both polar and lateral flagella has been shown to be mandatory for flagella production and motility in different Aeromonas strains, and has also been associated with increased bacterial adhesion, biofilm formation, and induction of the host proinflammatory response. The main aspects of these structures are covered in this review

Influencia de las condiciones meteorológicas en la patología condral

Introducción: En la práctica clínica habitual, muchos pacientes atribuyen el dolor articular a ciertas condiciones meteorológicas. Objetivo: Evaluar el efecto de las condiciones climáticas en pacientes con artrosis. Métodos: El presente trabajo se realizó con pacientes del Instituto Poal de Reumatología de Barcelona y los datos fueron analizados por Bioibérica Farma. Consistió en un estudio prospectivo, a doble ciego, que incluyó 80 pacientes con artrosis, comparados con un grupo control de 42 sujetos. La evaluación del dolor (EAV de Huskisson) y la capacidad funcional (HAQ) se eterminaron diariamente durante un mes, y las variables climáticas estudiadas fueron la temperatura, la humedad y la presión atmosférica. Resultados: Nuestros datos demuestran que los pacientes artrósicos experimentan un aumento del dolor articular en respuesta a una disminución de la presión, lo que indica que las condiciones de baja presión atmosférica exacerban el dolor en estos pacientes. Conclusión: Estos datos sugieren que en el futuro podría ser factible modular los tratamientos farmacológicos y no farmacológicos para algunos pacientes artrósicos en función de la previsión meteorológica y evitar, en la medida de lo posible, el dolor articular y la incapacidad funcional asociados a la enfermedad, mejorando así la calidad de vida de estos pacientes

The Complete Structure of the Core Oligosaccharide from Edwardsiella tarda EIB 202 Lipopolysaccharide

The chemical structure and genomics of the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) core oligosaccharide of pathogenic Edwardsiella tarda strain EIB 202 were studied for the first time. The complete gene assignment for all LPS core biosynthesis gene functions was acquired. The complete structure of core oligosaccharide was investigated by 1H and 13C nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy, electrospray ionization mass spectrometry MSn, and matrix-assisted laser-desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The following structure of the undecasaccharide was established: The heterogeneous appearance of the core oligosaccharide structure was due to the partial lack of β-d-Galp and the replacement of α-d-GlcpNAcGly by α-d-GlcpNGly. The glycine location was identified by mass spectrometry

Influència de les condicions meteorològiques en la patologia condral

Introducció: En la pràctica clínica habitual, molts pacients atribueixen el dolor articular a certes condicions meteorològiques. Objectiu: Avaluar l'efecte de les condicions climàtiques en pacients amb artrosi. Mètodes: Aquest treball es va realitzar amb pacients de l'Institut Poal de Reumatologia de Barcelona i les dades van ser analitzats per Bioibérica Farma. Va consistir en un estudi prospectiu, a doble cec, que va incloure 80 pacients amb artrosi, comparats amb un grup control de 42 subjectes. L'avaluació del dolor (EAV de Huskisson) i la capacitat funcional (HAQ) es van determinar diàriament durant un mes, i les variables climàtiques estudiades van ser la temperatura, la humitat i la pressió atmosfèrica. Resultats: Les nostres dades demostren que els pacients artròsics tenen un augment del dolor articular en resposta a una disminució de la pressió, la qual cosa indica que les condicions de baixa pressió atmosfèrica exacerben el dolor en aquests pacients. Conclusió: Aquestes dades suggereixen que en el futur podria ser factible modular els tractaments farmacològics i no farmacològics per a alguns pacients artròsics en funció de la previsió meteorològica i evitar, en la mesura possible, el dolor articular i la incapacitat funcional associats a la malaltia, tot millorant la qualitat de vida d'aquests pacients

Polar glycosylated and lateral non-glycosylated flagella from Aeromonas hydrophila strain AH-1 (serotype O11)

Polar and but not lateral flagellin proteins from Aeromonas hydrophila strain AH-1 (serotype O11) were found to be glycosylated. Top-down mass spectrometry studies of purified polar flagellins suggested the presence of a 403 Da glycan of mass. Bottom-up mass spectrometry studies showed the polar flagellin peptides to be modified with 403 Da glycans in O-linkage. The MS fragmentation pattern of this putative glycan was similar to that of pseudaminic acid derivative. Mutants lacking the biosynthesis of pseudaminic acid (pseB and pseI homologues) were unable to produce polar flagella but no changes were observed in lateral flagella by post transcriptional regulation of the flagellin. Complementation was achieved by reintroduction of the wild type pseB and pseI. We compared two pathogenic features (adhesion to eukaryotic cells and biofilm production) between the wild type strain and two kinds of mutants: mutants lacking polar flagella glycosylation and lacking the O11-antigen lipopolysaccharide (LPS) but with unaltered polar flagella glycosylation. Results suggest that polar flagella glycosylation is extremely important for A. hydrophila AH-1 adhesion to Hep-2 cells and biofilm formation. In addition, we show the importance of the polar flagella glycosylation for immune stimulation of IL-8 production via toll 'like' receptor 5 TLR5

Structural characterization of core Region in Erwinia amylovora lipopolysaccharide.

Erwinia amylovora (E. amylovora) is the first bacterial plant pathogen described and demonstrated to cause fire blight, a devastating plant disease affecting a wide range of species including a wide variety of Rosaceae. In this study, we reported the lipopolysaccharide (LPS) core structure from E. amylovora strain CFBP1430, the first one for an E. amylovora highly pathogenic strain. The chemical characterization was performed on the mutants waaL (lacking only the O-antigen LPS with a complete LPS-core), wabH and wabG (outer-LPS core mutants). The LPSs were isolated from dry cells and analyzed by means of chemical and spectroscopic methods. In particular, they were subjected to a mild acid hydrolysis and/or a hydrazinolysis and investigated in detail by one and two dimensional Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and ElectroSpray Ionization Fourier Transform-Ion Cyclotron Resonance (ESI FT-ICR) mass spectrometry

Variable structure control in natural frame for three-phase grid-connected inverters with LCL filter

This paper presents a variable structure control in natural frame for a three-phase voltage source inverter. The proposed control method is based on modifying the converter model in natural reference frame, preserving the low frequency state space variables dynamics. Using this model in a Kalman filter, the system state-space variables are estimated allowing to design three robust current sliding-mode controllers in natural frame. The main closed-loop features of the proposed method are: 1) robustness against grid inductance variations because the proposed model is independent of the grid inductance, 2) the power losses are reduced since physical damping resistors are avoided, and 3) the control bandwidth can be increased due to the combination of a variable hysteresis controller with a Kalman filter. To complete the control scheme, a theoretical stability analysis is developed. Finally, selected experimental results validate the proposed control strategy and permit illustrating all its appealing features.Postprint (author's final draft

iMAGING: a novel automated system for malaria diagnosis by using artificial intelligence tools and a universal low-cost robotized microscope

Artificial intelligence; Malaria diagnosis; Robotized microscopeInteligencia artificial; Diagnóstico de malaria; Microscopio robotizadoIntel·ligència artificial; Diagnòstic de malària; Microscopi robotitzatIntroduction: Malaria is one of the most prevalent infectious diseases in sub-Saharan Africa, with 247 million cases reported worldwide in 2021 according to the World Health Organization. Optical microscopy remains the gold standard technique for malaria diagnosis, however, it requires expertise, is time-consuming and difficult to reproduce. Therefore, new diagnostic techniques based on digital image analysis using artificial intelligence tools can improve diagnosis and help automate it. Methods: In this study, a dataset of 2571 labeled thick blood smear images were created. YOLOv5x, Faster R-CNN, SSD, and RetinaNet object detection neural networks were trained on the same dataset to evaluate their performance in Plasmodium parasite detection. Attention modules were applied and compared with YOLOv5x results. To automate the entire diagnostic process, a prototype of 3D-printed pieces was designed for the robotization of conventional optical microscopy, capable of auto-focusing the sample and tracking the entire slide. Results: Comparative analysis yielded a performance for YOLOv5x on a test set of 92.10% precision, 93.50% recall, 92.79% F-score, and 94.40% mAP0.5 for leukocyte, early and mature Plasmodium trophozoites overall detection. F-score values of each category were 99.0% for leukocytes, 88.6% for early trophozoites and 87.3% for mature trophozoites detection. Attention modules performance show non-significant statistical differences when compared to YOLOv5x original trained model. The predictive models were integrated into a smartphone-computer application for the purpose of image-based diagnostics in the laboratory. The system can perform a fully automated diagnosis by the auto-focus and X-Y movements of the robotized microscope, the CNN models trained for digital image analysis, and the smartphone device. The new prototype would determine whether a Giemsa-stained thick blood smear sample is positive/negative for Plasmodium infection and its parasite levels. The whole system was integrated into the iMAGING smartphone application. Conclusion: The coalescence of the fully-automated system via auto-focus and slide movements and the autonomous detection of Plasmodium parasites in digital images with a smartphone software and AI algorithms confers the prototype the optimal features to join the global effort against malaria, neglected tropical diseases and other infectious diseases.The project is funded by the Microbiology Department of Vall d’Hebron University Hospital, the Cooperation Centre of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (CCD-UPC), and the Probitas Foundation