134 research outputs found
Results of donor after cardiac death circulation activation: recuperation of spontaneous circulation analysis.
The activation procedure of a potential donor after cardiac death begins after recognition of a situation of unrecovered PCR patient meets the criteria donor after cardiac death. Still have to meet a number of medical conditions and logistical both for the potential donor becomes effective donor. The aim of this study is to describe this procedure and know the number of potential donors who finally become effective donors.
Method: Collection of all activations procedure after cardiac death donor HU 12 de Octubre for 5 years (2009-2013). Data collection is performed on a web platform created for this purpose.post-print255 K
The influence of road networks on brown bear spatial distribution and habitat suitability in a human-modified landscape
Roads are human infrastructure that heavily affect wildlife, often with marked
impacts on carnivores, including brown bears Ursus arctos. Here, we assessed the
potential impact of road networks on the distribution of brown bears in the small, isolated
and endangered Cantabrian population of north-western Spain. To ascertain
whether local road networks affect brown bear spatial distribution, we first assessed
potential influences on the distance of bear locations to roads using candidate models
which included topographic variables, landcover types, bear age and reproductive status,
traffic volume and road visibility. Then, we built two sets of habitat suitability
models, both with and without roads, to discern the possible loss of habitat suitability
caused by roads. The mean distance of bear locations to the nearest road was
968 804 m and the closest road was a low traffic road in 72.5% of cases. Candidate
models showed little influence of our variables on bear distance to the nearest
road, with the exception of elevation. Habitat suitability models revealed that road
networks in our study area seem to have almost no effect on brown bear habitat suitability,
except for females with yearlings during the denning season. However, this
result may also be a consequence of the fact that only a small proportion (16.5%) of
the cells classified as suitable bear habitats were crossed by roads, that is, most of the
roads are primarily located in unsuitable bear habitats in the Cantabrian Mountains.
Compared to previous studies conducted in other populations, mainly North American
ones, our findings might suggest a different response of Eurasian brown bears to
roads due to a longer bear-human coexistence in Europe versus North America. However,
the indirect approach used in our study does not exclude other detrimental
effects, for example, road mortality, increased stress and movement pattern disruption,
only detectable by more direct approaches such as telemetry
The influence of road networks on brown bear spatial distribution and habitat suitability in a human-modified landscape
Roads are human infrastructure that heavily affect wildlife, often with marked impacts on carnivores, including brown bears Ursus arctos. Here, we assessed the potential impact of road networks on the distribution of brown bears in the small, isolated and endangered Cantabrian population of north-western Spain. To ascertain whether local road networks affect brown bear spatial distribution, we first assessed potential influences on the distance of bear locations to roads using candidate models which included topographic variables, landcover types, bear age and reproductive status, traffic volume and road visibility. Then, we built two sets of habitat suitability models, both with and without roads, to discern the possible loss of habitat suitability caused by roads. The mean distance of bear locations to the nearest road was 968 ± 804 m and the closest road was a low traffic road in 72.5% of cases. Candidate models showed little influence of our variables on bear distance to the nearest road, with the exception of elevation. Habitat suitability models revealed that road networks in our study area seem to have almost no effect on brown bear habitat suitability, except for females with yearlings during the denning season. However, this result may also be a consequence of the fact that only a small proportion (16.5%) of the cells classified as suitable bear habitats were crossed by roads, that is, most of the roads are primarily located in unsuitable bear habitats in the Cantabrian Mountains. Compared to previous studies conducted in other populations, mainly North American ones, our findings might suggest a different response of Eurasian brown bears to roads due to a longer bear-human coexistence in Europe versus North America. However, the indirect approach used in our study does not exclude other detrimental effects, for example, road mortality, increased stress and movement pattern disruption, only detectable by more direct approaches such as telemetry.During this research, EG-B was financially supported by a FPU grant (FPU15-03429) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities. VP, EG-B, AMG and HRV were financially supported by the I + D + I Project PID2020-114181GB-I00 financed by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER, EU). AMG was supported by the Predoctoral Fellowship PRE2018-086102. AZA was financially supported by a Margarita Salas contract financed by the European Union-NextGenerationEU, Ministerio de Universidades y Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resiliencia, through the call of the Universidad de Oviedo (Asturias).Peer reviewe
Rubbing behavior of European brown bears: factors affecting rub tree selectivity and density
Scent-mediated communication is considered the principal communication channel in many mammal species. Compared with visual and vocal communication, odors persist for a longer time, enabling individuals to interact without being in the same place at the same time. The brown bear (Ursus arctos), like other mammals, carries out chemical communication, for example, by means of scents deposited on marking (or rub) trees. In this study, we assessed rub tree selectivity of the brown bear in the predominantly deciduous forests of the Cantabrian Mountains (NW Spain). We first compared the characteristics of 101 brown bear rub trees with 263 control trees. We then analyzed the potential factors affecting the density of rub trees along 35 survey routes along footpaths. We hypothesized that: (1) bears would select particular trees, or tree species, with characteristics that make them more conspicuous; and (2) that bears would select trees located in areas with the highest presence of conspecifics, depending on the population density or the position of the trees within the species’ range. We used linear models and generalized additive models to test these hypotheses. Our results showed that brown bears generally selected more conspicuous trees with a preference for birches (Betula spp.). This choice may facilitate the marking and/ or detection of chemical signals and, therefore, the effectiveness of intraspecific communication. Conversely, the abundance of rub trees along footpaths did not seem to depend on the density of bear observations or their relative position within the population center or its border. Our results suggest that Cantabrian brown bears select trees based on their individual characteristics and their location, with no influence of characteristics of the bear population itself. Our findings can be used to locate target trees that could help in population monitoring
LipoDDx: a mobile application for identification of rare lipodystrophy syndromes
BACKGROUND: Lipodystrophy syndromes are a group of disorders characterized by a loss of adipose tissue once other situations of nutritional deprivation or exacerbated catabolism have been ruled out. With the exception of the HIV-associated lipodystrophy, they have a very low prevalence, which together with their large phenotypic heterogeneity makes their identification difficult, even for endocrinologists and pediatricians. This leads to significant delays in diagnosis or even to misdiagnosis. Our group has developed an algorithm that identifies the more than 40 rare lipodystrophy subtypes described to date. This algorithm has been implemented in a free mobile application, LipoDDx(R). Our aim was to establish the effectiveness of LipoDDx(R). Forty clinical records of patients with a diagnosis of certainty of most lipodystrophy subtypes were analyzed, including subjects without lipodystrophy. The medical records, blinded for diagnosis, were evaluated by 13 physicians, 1 biochemist and 1 dentist. Each evaluator first gave his/her results based on his/her own criteria. Then, a second diagnosis was given using LipoDDx(R). The results were analysed based on a score table according to the complexity of each case and the prevalence of the disease. RESULTS: LipoDDx(R) provides a user-friendly environment, based on usually dichotomous questions or choice of clinical signs from drop-down menus. The final result provided by this app for a particular case can be a low/high probability of suffering a particular lipodystrophy subtype. Without using LipoDDx(R) the success rate was 17 +/- 20%, while with LipoDDx(R) the success rate was 79 +/- 20% (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: LipoDDx(R) is a free app that enables the identification of subtypes of rare lipodystrophies, which in this small cohort has around 80% effectiveness, which will be of help to doctors who are not experts in this field. However, it will be necessary to analyze more cases in order to obtain a more accurate efficiency value
Analysis of ancestral and functionally relevant CD5 variants in systemic lupus erythematosus patients
OBJECTIVE: CD5 plays a crucial role in autoimmunity and is a well-established genetic risk factor of developing RA. Recently, evidence of positive selection has been provided for the CD5 Pro224-Val471 haplotype in East Asian populations. The aim of the present work was to further analyze the functional relevance of non-synonymous CD5 polymorphisms conforming the ancestral and the newly derived haplotypes (Pro224-Ala471 and Pro224-Val471, respectively) as well as to investigate the potential role of CD5 on the development of SLE and/or SLE nephritis.
METHODS: The CD5 SNPs rs2241002 (C/T; Pro224Leu) and rs2229177 (C/T; Ala471Val) were genotyped using TaqMan allelic discrimination assays in a total of 1,324 controls and 681 SLE patients of Spanish origin. In vitro analysis of CD3-mediated T cell proliferative and cytokine response profiles of healthy volunteers homozygous for the above mentioned CD5 haplotypes were also analyzed.
RESULTS: T-cell proliferation and cytokine release were significantly increased showing a bias towards to a Th2 profile after CD3 cross-linking of peripheral mononuclear cells from healthy individuals homozygous for the ancestral Pro224-Ala471 (CC) haplotype, compared to the more recently derived Pro224-Val471 (CT). The same allelic combination was statistically associated with Lupus nephritis.
CONCLUSION: The ancestral Ala471 CD5 allele confers lymphocyte hyper-responsiveness to TCR/CD3 cross-linking and is associated with nephritis in SLE patients
Conceptual design of the International Axion Observatory (IAXO)
The International Axion Observatory (IAXO) will be a forth generation axion
helioscope. As its primary physics goal, IAXO will look for axions or
axion-like particles (ALPs) originating in the Sun via the Primakoff conversion
of the solar plasma photons. In terms of signal-to-noise ratio, IAXO will be
about 4-5 orders of magnitude more sensitive than CAST, currently the most
powerful axion helioscope, reaching sensitivity to axion-photon couplings down
to a few GeV and thus probing a large fraction of the
currently unexplored axion and ALP parameter space. IAXO will also be sensitive
to solar axions produced by mechanisms mediated by the axion-electron coupling
with sensitivity for the first time to values of not
previously excluded by astrophysics. With several other possible physics cases,
IAXO has the potential to serve as a multi-purpose facility for generic axion
and ALP research in the next decade. In this paper we present the conceptual
design of IAXO, which follows the layout of an enhanced axion helioscope, based
on a purpose-built 20m-long 8-coils toroidal superconducting magnet. All the
eight 60cm-diameter magnet bores are equipped with focusing x-ray optics, able
to focus the signal photons into cm spots that are imaged by
ultra-low-background Micromegas x-ray detectors. The magnet is built into a
structure with elevation and azimuth drives that will allow for solar tracking
for 12 h each day.Comment: 47 pages, submitted to JINS
Distribution Patterns of E-Cadherin, Type VII Collagen and Fibronectin in Denture-Related Stomatitis: A Preliminary Study
The distribution of epithelial E-cadherin, basement membrane type VII collagen, and underlying connective tissues fibronectin were investigated immunohistochemically and compared in normal palatal mucosa and in denture-related stomatitis (DRS) derivatives using monoclonal antibodies.Biopsies of palatal mucosa were obtained from twelve patients enrolled in this study, 8 with type II DRS and 4 with healthy mucosa
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