Efectos de un programa de ejercicio físico a domicilio en cuidadores de pacientes de Alzheimer : un estudio piloto

Alzheimer's disease not only affects the patients who suffer from it; it also has a marked impact on their family environment. The caregiver's quality of life and their emotional well-being are seriously affected. Many earlier studies have studied this issue from different perspectives: cognitive-behavioral, psycho-educational models, individual and/or group interventions, programmes based on physical activity, etc.. In many cases, the caregiver's main handicap or difficulty is attending these programmes. This study aims to assess the applicability and effectiveness of an individual home-care exercise programme as regards the psychological profile and self-perceived burden of a group of 32 informal caregivers. A high level of attendance was achieved and significant improvements in depression levels were achieved. The improvement expected in the self-perceived burden and anxiety levels were not significant. This programme's main contribution is its capacity to help female caregivers stick to physical activities

Bearings Fault Detection Using Inference Tools

The most used electric machine in the industry is the Induction Motor (IM), due to its simplicity and reduced cost. The analysis of the origin of IMs failures exhibits that the bearings are the major source of fault, and even a common cause of degradation in other kinds of motors as Permanent Magnet Synchronous Machines.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

EMA Fault Detection Using Fuzzy Inference Tools

Acoustic emission (AE) is one of the most important non-destructive testing (NDT) methods for materials, constructions and machines. Acoustic emission is defined as the transient elastic energy that is spontaneously released when materials undergo deformation, fracture, or both. This interdisciplinary book consists of 17 chapters, which widely discuss the most important applications of AE method as machinery and civil structures condition assessment, fatigue and fracture materials research, detection of material defects and deformations, diagnostics of cutting tools and machine cutting process, monitoring of stress and ageing in materials, research, chemical reactions and phase transitions research, and earthquake prediction.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Directional Ultrasound Source for Solid Materials Inspection: Diffraction Management in a Metallic Phononic Crystal

[EN] In this work, we numerically investigate the diffraction management of longitudinal elastic waves propagating in a two-dimensional metallic phononic crystal. We demonstrate that this structure acts as an "ultrasonic lens", providing self-collimation or focusing effect at a certain distance from the crystal output. We implement this directional propagation in the design of a coupling device capable to control the directivity or focusing of ultrasonic waves propagation inside a target object. These effects are robust over a broad frequency band and are preserved in the propagation through a coupling gel between the "ultrasonic lens" and the solid target. These results may find interesting industrial and medical applications, where the localization of the ultrasonic waves may be required at certain positions embedded in the object under study. An application example for non-destructive testing with improved results, after using the ultrasonic lens, is discussed as a proof of concept for the novelty and applicability of our numerical simulation study.H. Selim, J. Trull, C. Cojocaru, and R. Pico acknowledge partial support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MINECO) and European Union FEDER through project PID2019-109175GB-C22. H. Selim, J. Trull, and C. Cojocaru acknowledge partial support from US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) through project W911NF-16-1-0563.Selim, H.; Picó Vila, R.; Trull, J.; Delgado Prieto, M.; Cojocaru, C. (2020). Directional Ultrasound Source for Solid Materials Inspection: Diffraction Management in a Metallic Phononic Crystal. Sensors. 20(21):1-18. https://doi.org/10.3390/s20216148S118202

Wavelet Transform Applied to Internal Defect Detection by Means of Laser Ultrasound

Laser-generated ultrasound represents an interesting nondestructive testing technique that is being investigated in the last years as performative alternative to classical ultrasonic-based approaches. The greatest difficulty in analyzing the acoustic emission response is that an in-depth knowledge of how acoustic waves propagate through the tested composite is required. In this regard, different signal processing approaches are being applied in order to assess the significance of features extracted from the resulting analysis. In this study, the detection capabilities of internal defects in a metallic sample are proposed to be studied by means of the time-frequency analysis of the ultrasonic waves resulting from laser-induced thermal mechanism. In the proposed study, the use of the wavelet transform considering different wavelet variants is considered due to its multi-resolution time-frequency characteristics. Also, a significant time-frequency technique widely applied in other fields of research is applied, the synchrosqueezed transform

Types of Carbohydrates Intake during Pregnancy and Frequency of a Small for Gestational Age Newborn: A Case-Control Study

The objective of this study was to assess the relationship between consumption of different types of carbohydrates (CHO) during pregnancy and the risk of having a small for gestational age (SGA) newborn. A retrospective matched case–control design was carried out with a total of 518 mother-offspring pairs. A total of 137 validated items were included in the food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Conditional logistic regression models were used to calculate crude odds ratios (cORs) and adjusted odds ratios (aORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Having more than 75 g/day of brown bread showed an inverse association with SGA (aOR = 0.64, CI 0.43–0.96). In contrast, an intake of industrial sweets more than once a day (aOR = 2.70, CI 1.42–5.13), or even 2–6 times a week (aOR = 1.84, CI 1.20–2.82), increased the odds of having a SGA newborn. During pregnancy, the higher the increase of wholegrain cereal and bread, the lower the possibility of having a SGA newborn, but the opposite occurred with refined sugar products—just consuming industrial bakery products or pastries twice a week increased the odds of having an SGA infant. Case–control studies cannot verify causality and only show associations, which may reflect residual confusion due to the presence of unknown factors. It is possible that a high consumption of sugary foods is a marker of a generally poor lifestyle.This work was supported by a grant from the National Institute of Health Carlos III (PI11/02199). Finally, N.C-I. would like to acknowledge support from the Ministry of Education of Spain (FPU14/03630)

Maternal seafood intake and the risk of small for gestational age newborns: a case–control study in Spanish women

Objective To investigate the relationship between seafood consumption during pregnancy and the risk of delivering a small for gestational age (SGA) newborn. Design This case–control study included women with SGA newborns and controls matched 1:1 for maternal age (±2 years) and hospital. Setting Five hospitals in Eastern Andalusia, Spain. Participants 518 pairs of pregnant Spanish women. The SGA group included women who delivered SGA newborns: SGA was defined as a birth weight below the 10th percentile of infants at a given gestational age. Controls were women who delivered newborns with adequate birth weights. Interventions We collected data on demographic characteristics, socioeconomic status, toxic habits and diet. Midwives administered a 137-item Food Frequency Questionnaire. Outcome measures We calculated quintiles of seafood intake and applied conditional logistic regression to estimate ORs and 95% CIs. Results Shellfish intake more than once/week yielded a significant protective effect against an SGA newborn (OR 0.25, 95% CI 0.08 to 0.76, after adjusting for energy, educational level, smoking, prepregnancy body mass index, weight and a history of preterm or low birthweight newborn). The risk of an SGA newborn was lower among women who consumed >29 g/day fish compared with women who consumed ≤8 g (adjusted OR 0.63, 95% CI 0.41 to 0.98; p=0.025 for a trend). Similarly, the risk of an SGA newborn was lower among women who consumed >1 g/day of marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids compared with those who consumed ≤0.4 g/day (adjusted OR 0.58, 95% CI 0.38 to 0.90; p=0.025 for a trend). Conclusion An average seafood intake of at least 29 g/ day during pregnancy, equivalent to 2–3 servings/week, reduced the risk of an SGA newborn, compared with an average seafood intake of less than 8 g/day.The National Institute of Health Carlos III (PI11/02199) supported this work

Consumo de carne y productos cárnicos durante el embarazo y riesgo de tener un recién nacido pequeño para su edad gestacional. Un estudio de casos y controles

Introduction: different diets during pregnancy might have an impact on the health as reflected by the birth weight of the newborn. The consumption of meat and meat products during pregnancy and its relationship with the newborn health status have been studied by several authors. The studies carried out show inconsistent results Objective: to analyse the association between maternal dietary intake of meat and meat products and the risk of small for gestational age (SGA) newborn. Methods: a matched case-control study of 518 cases and controls of pregnant women was performed in Spain. Cases were women with a SGA newborn. Data about demographic characteristics and diet were collected. Meat consumption was gathered through a validated food frequency questionnaire. Meat and meat products intakes were categorized in quintiles (Q1-Q5).The association between maternal meat and meat product intakes and SGA was assessed by logistic regression models with adjustment for confounding factors. Results: an intake of meat products above 6.8 g/day was associated with a lower risk of SGA delivery (OR = 0.7; 95% CI, 0.53-0.93) after adjusting for smoking, body mass index, previous preterm-low birth weight, newborn gender and adherence to Mediterranean diet. Conclusions: meat consumption was not associated with SGA, whereas meat products showed a moderate protective relationship.Introducción: la ingesta dietética durante el embarazo es un factor clave en la salud maternal y fetal, pudiendo tener un impacto en el peso al nacer del recién nacido. El consumo de carne y productos cárnicos durante el embarazo y su asociación con el estado de salud del neonato ha sido estudiado, sin embargo los hallazgos encontrados muestran resultados contradictorios. Objetivo: analizar la asociación entre la ingesta dietética materna de carne y productos cárnicos durante el embarazo y el riesgo de tener un bebé pequeño para la edad gestacional (PEG). Metodología: se realizó un estudio de casos y controles emparejados en mujeres españolas embarazadas (518 casos y 518 controles). Los casos fueron mujeres con un recién nacido PEG. El consumo de carne se obtuvo a través de un cuestionario de frecuencia de alimentos validado. La carne y la ingesta de productos cárnicos fueron categorizados en quintiles (Q1-Q5). La asociación entre la ingesta materna cárnica durante el embarazo y el riesgo de tener un recién nacido PEG se evaluó mediante modelos de regresión logística ajustados por factores confusores. Resultados: una ingesta de productos cárnicos ≥ 6,8 g/día se asoció significativamente con un menor riesgo de tener un recién nacido PEG (OR = 0,7; IC 95%, 0,53-0,93) después de ajustar el modelo por factores confusores: fumar, índice de masa corporal, embarazos previos con bajo peso al nacer, sexo del recién nacido y adherencia materna a la dieta mediterránea. Conclusiones: el consumo materno de carne no se asoció con recién nacidos PEG, sin embargo el consumo de productos cárnicos mostró una moderada asociación protectora. Estos hallazgos respaldan el consejo de una dieta variada para mujeres embarazadas, que proporciona ingesta de proteínas y otros micronutrientes de diferentes fuentes alimentarias

Fully Noncontact Hybrid NDT for 3D Defect Reconstruction Using SAFT Algorithm and 2D Apodization Window

[EN] Nondestructive testing of metallic objects that may contain embedded defects of different sizes is an important application in many industrial branches for quality control. Most of these techniques allow defect detection and its approximate localization, but few methods give enough information for its 3D reconstruction. Here we present a hybrid laser-transducer system that combines remote, laser-generated ultrasound excitation and noncontact ultrasonic transducer detection. This fully noncontact method allows access to scan areas on different object's faces and defect details from different angles/perspectives. This hybrid system can analyze the object's volume data and allows a 3D reconstruction image of the embedded defects. As a novelty for signal processing improvement, we use a 2D apodization window filtering technique, applied along with the synthetic aperture focusing algorithm, to remove the undesired effects due to side lobes and wide-angle reflections of propagating ultrasound waves, thus enhancing the resulting 3D image of the defect. Finally, we provide both qualitative and quantitative volumetric results that yield valuable information about defect location and size.The work was supported by Spanish Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MINECO) and European Union FEDER through project FIS2015-65998-C2-1 and FIS2015-65998-C2-2 and by project AICO/2016/060 by Conselleria de Educacion, Investigacion, Cultura y Deporte de la Generalitat Valenciana. H. Selim, J. Trull and C. Cojocaru acknowledge partial support from US Army Research, Development, and Engineering Command (RDECOM) through project W911NF-16-1-0563.Selim, H.; Trull, J.; Delgado, M.; Picó Vila, R.; Romeral, L.; Cojocaru, C. (2019). 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