Effects of Ground Failure on Bridges, Roads, and Railroads

The long duration and strong velocity content of the motions produced by the 27 February 2010 Maule earthquake resulted in widespread liquefaction and lateral spreading in several urban and other regions of Chile. In particular, critical lifeline structures such as bridges, roadway embankments, and railroads were damaged by ground shaking and ground failure. This paper describes the effects that ground failure had on a number of bridges, roadway embankments, and railroads during this major earthquake

XXV Curso Monográfico de Psiquiatría Infantil y la Adolescencia: Tópicos de Psicofarmacología Infantil - 2023

El XXV Curso Monográfico de Psiquiatría Infantil y de la Adolescencia, titulado "Tópicos de Psicofarmacología Infantil," fue un evento destacado en el campo de la salud mental infantil y adolescente. Durante tres días en septiembre de 2023, expertos líderes en la materia se reunieron para explorar a fondo la psicofarmacología en este grupo de edad. El evento, dedicado a la memoria del Dr. Francisco Javier Valencia Granados, comenzó con una ceremonia de inauguración en la que participaron autoridades institucionales. Luego, se sucedieron conferencias magistrales que abordaron una amplia variedad de temas cruciales. Estos incluyeron aspectos fundamentales como la neurobioquímica farmacológica y una introducción a la psicofarmacología. El programa se adentró en cuestiones específicas, como el uso de antipsicóticos en paidopsiquiatría, el abordaje de trastornos del aprendizaje, el tratamiento del suicidio desde una perspectiva psicofarmacológica, y la gestión farmacológica del insomnio en niños. Se exploraron temas especializados, como el tratamiento de la esquizofrenia en pacientes infantiles. El segundo día se centró en trastornos emocionales en niños y adolescentes, destacando el tratamiento del trastorno depresivo, los trastornos ansiosos y el espectro autista. Se presentaron enfoques vanguardistas, como el uso de psicodélicos en adolescentes y las novedades en psicofarmacología, como el dextrometorfano y el bupropión. También se discutió el manejo de la epilepsia y la adicción a los videojuegos. El tercer día se enfocó en el tratamiento farmacológico de trastornos pediátricos específicos, como el trastorno bipolar, el déficit de atención e hiperactividad, la enuresis y encopresis, parasomnias, y el abordaje neuropsiquiátrico en pacientes pediátricos con VIH. Se exploraron también trastornos de la conducta alimentaria y la disforia de género. El evento culminó con una reflexión sobre la salud mental en niños y un emotivo tributo al Dr. Francisco Javier

Control of paratuberculosis: who, why and how. A review of 48 countries

Paratuberculosis, a chronic disease affecting ruminant livestock, is caused by Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP). It has direct and indirect economic costs, impacts animal welfare and arouses public health concerns. In a survey of 48 countries we found paratuberculosis to be very common in livestock. In about half the countries more than 20% of herds and flocks were infected with MAP. Most countries had large ruminant populations (millions), several types of farmed ruminants, multiple husbandry systems and tens of thousands of individual farms, creating challenges for disease control. In addition, numerous species of free-living wildlife were infected. Paratuberculosis was notifiable in most countries, but formal control programs were present in only 22 countries. Generally, these were the more highly developed countries with advanced veterinary services. Of the countries without a formal control program for paratuberculosis, 76% were in South and Central America, Asia and Africa while 20% were in Europe. Control programs were justified most commonly on animal health grounds, but protecting market access and public health were other factors. Prevalence reduction was the major objective in most countries, but Norway and Sweden aimed to eradicate the disease, so surveillance and response were their major objectives. Government funding was involved in about two thirds of countries, but operations tended to be funded by farmers and their organizations and not by government alone. The majority of countries (60%) had voluntary control programs. Generally, programs were supported by incentives for joining, financial compensation and/or penalties for non-participation. Performance indicators, structure, leadership, practices and tools used in control programs are also presented. Securing funding for long-term control activities was a widespread problem. Control programs were reported to be successful in 16 (73%) of the 22 countries. Recommendations are made for future control programs, including a primary goal of establishing an international code for paratuberculosis, leading to universal acknowledgment of the principles and methods of control in relation to endemic and transboundary disease. An holistic approach across all ruminant livestock industries and long-term commitment is required for control of paratuberculosis

Clean enzymatic preparation of oxygenated biofuels from vegetable and waste cooking oils by using spongelike ionic liquids technology

The biocatalytic synthesis of oxygenated biofuels (fatty acid solketal esters, FASEs) and biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters, FAMEs) was carried out by both the direct esterification of fatty acids (i.e., lauric, myristic, palmitic, and oleic acids, respectively) with solketal or methanol, and the transesterification of vegetable oils (i.e. sunflower, olive, cottonseeds, and waste cooking oil) with the same alcohols, in hydrophobic ionic liquids (ILs) based on cations with long alkyl side-chains (e.g., octadecyltrimethylammonium bis- (trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide [C18tma][NTf2]). These hydrophobic ILs are temperature switchable ionic liquid/solid phases that behave as sponge-like system. As liquid phases, they are excellent monophasic reaction media for proposed biotransformations with all the assayed fat substrates, e.g. near to 100% yield of fatty acids solketyl esters (FASEs) and fatty acid methyl esters (FAMEs) in 6 h at 60 °C. By using waste cooking oil mixed with free fatty acids as substrate, green biofuels containing either both FAMEs and FASEs (e.g., aprox. 80% FAMEs and 20% FASEs, etc.) can easily be prepared. Moreover, the reaction mixture can be easily fractionated by iterative centrifugations at controlled temperature into three phases, i.e. solid IL, water, and FAMEs + FASEs mixture leading to a straightforward and clean approach allowing the full recovery of the biocatalyst/IL system for further reuse and the simple product isolation. Furthermore, the enzyme did not shown any loss in activity during reuse in these reaction systems after six operation cycles.This work has been partially supported by CTQ-2015-67927-R, CTQ-2015-68429-R (MINECO/FEDER), and 19278/PI/14 (Fundacion SENECA CARM) grants

Persistence profile to nucleos(t)ide analogue treatment for patients with chronic hepatitis B

Background There are currently five approved nucleos(t)ide analogues (NUCs) for the management of chronic hepatitis B (CHB): lamivudine, adefovir dipivoxil, telbivudine, entecavir, and tenofovir disoproxil fumarate.Objective To determine the persistence rates among patients receiving NUCs for CHB at weeks 48, 96 and 144, compare them in these periods, and analyse the evolution of treatment persistence.Methods We conducted a retrospective study that included patients with CHB who initiated antiviral therapy and were attended to by the pharmaceutical care office between January 2002 and December 2011. Patients included in a clinical trial or patients who did not collect their medication personally were excluded. There were two different analyses: a comparative analysis of the persistence rates in three periods (weeks 1-48, weeks 48-96, and weeks 96-144); and a Kaplan-Meier analysis to evaluate the evolution of persistence.Results A total of 102 patients were included. Persistence rates were different in the three periods. They decreased during the course of the different periods, and the decline was more rapid between the first and second period. There were statistically significant differences in the non-persistence of the five drugs (

Effects of ground failure on buildings, ports, and industrial facilities

Soil liquefaction occurred at many sites during the 2010 Maule, Chile, earthquake, often leading to ground failure and lateral spreading. Of particular interest are the effects of liquefaction on built infrastructure. Several buildings were damaged significantly due to foundation movements resulting from liquefaction. Liquefaction-induced ground failure also displaced and distorted waterfront structures, which adversely impacted the operation of some of Chile's key port facilities. Important case histories that document the effects of ground failure on buildings, ports, and industrial facilities are presented in this paper. </jats:p