BENEFICIAL INSECTS IN GREENHOUSES: A STUDY OF SOME ASPECTS OF CANNIBALISM AND POLLINATION.

Tesis doctoral en período de exposición públicaDoctorado en Ciencias Aplicadas al Medio Ambiente (RD99/11) (8904

Emphysema model in rats exposed to tobacco smoke. Morphometric and functional analysis

Several models of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in mice have been developed; the most similar to the habit of smoking is the inhalation of the smoke in mice. The objective was to develop and implement an experimental model of COPD in mice through the passive inhalation of smoke and demonstrate the physiological changes on ventilatory function and its correlation with 3 emphysema quantification methods. Materials and methods: Twenty Wistar mice were included in an experimental and control group. The experimental group was exposed to tobacco smoke, and we performed several pulmonary functional tests and imaging techniques. Results: Pulmonary function tests showed the volume expiration in the first second (VEF1) differs significantly between groups (p < 0.001). Pulmonary compliance was reduced in the experimental group by 50% in comparison to the control group (male vs control p < 0.001). Morphometric analysis: 17% reduction in lung volume with a destructive index (DI) of 45%. The intersection test had a DI of 43%. The free point test showed a DI of 44%. Conclusions: The implementation of our model generated the presence of emphysema and alterations in the lung physiology in the experimental group. We demonstrated evidence of 90% with emphysem

Multiobjective RBFNNs Designer for Function Approximation: An Application for Mineral Reduction

Radial Basis Function Neural Networks (RBFNNs) are well known because, among other applications, they present a good perfor- mance when approximating functions. The function approximation prob- lem arises in the construction of a control system to optimize the process of the mineral reduction. In order to regulate the temperature of the ovens and other parameters, it is necessary a module to predict the ¯nal concentration of mineral that will be obtained from the source materials. This module can be formed by an RBFNN that predicts the output and by the algorithm that designs the RBFNN dynamically as more data is obtained. The design of RBFNNs is a very complex task where many parameters have to be determined, therefore, a genetic algorithm that determines all of them has been developed. This algorithm provides sat- isfactory results since the networks it generates are able to predict quite precisely the ¯nal concentration of mineral.Spanish CICYT Project TIN2004-01419European Commission's Research Infrastructures RII3-CT-2003-506079 (HPC-Europa

Importancia de las tecnologías de la información en la enseñanza universitaria de turismo

La aparición y posterior evolución de las tecnologías de la información y comunicaciones (TIC), han supuesto un gran cambio en el entorno en el que se desarrolla la industria turística. La formación de la mano de obra especializada para cubrir la demanda del sector turístico a nivel universitario se encuentra en pleno proceso de cambio ante la entrada en vigor del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior que está suponiendo el surgimiento y modificación de nuevas titulaciones y planes de estudio. En el caso de los estudios universitarios en turismo, el Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior implica la desaparición de la Diplomatura en Turismo y la aparición del nuevo Grado en Turismo. En cualquier caso, la formación en materia turística debe cubrir las necesidades que en diversas áreas de conocimiento, como la de las TIC, tienen las empresas del sector. En el presente estudio se ha analizado la relevancia que un grupo de seis destacadas universidades españolas otorgan a las TIC en sus estudios turísticos a través de dos medios: el análisis de las competencias a desarrollar por los alumnos de turismo y de la importancia real otorgada a dichas asignaturas, medida según su peso en créditos, en los planes de estudio

An optimization on pictogram identification for the road-sign recognition task using svms

Pattern recognition methods are used in the final stage of a traffic sign detection and recognition system, where the main objective is to categorize a detected sign. Support vector machines have been reported as a good method to achieve this main target due to their ability to provide good accuracy as well as being sparse methods. Nevertheless, for complete data sets of traffic signs the number of operations needed in the test phase is still large, whereas the accuracy needs to be improved. The objectives of this work are to propose pre-processing methods and improvements in support vector machines to increase the accuracy achieved while the number of support vectors, and thus the number of operations needed in the test phase, is reduced. Results show that with the proposed methods the accuracy is increased 3?5% with a reduction in the number of support vectors of 50?70%

Assistive Robot with an AI-Based Application for the Reinforcement of Activities of Daily Living: Technical Validation with Users Affected by Neurodevelopmental Disorders

In this work, we propose the first study of a technical validation of an assistive robotic platform, which has been designed to assist people with neurodevelopmental disorders. The platform is called LOLA2 and it is equipped with an artificial intelligence-based application to reinforce the learning of daily life activities in people with neurodevelopmental problems. LOLA2 has been integrated with an ROS-based navigation system and a user interface for healthcare professionals and their patients to interact with it. Technically, we have been able to embed all these modules into an NVIDIA Jetson Xavier board, as well as an artificial intelligence agent for online action detection (OAD). This OAD approach provides a detailed report on the degree of performance of a set of daily life activities that are being learned or reinforced by users. All the human–robot interaction process to work with users with neurodevelopmental disorders has been designed by a multidisciplinary team. Among its main features are the ability to control the robot with a joystick, a graphical user interface application that shows video tutorials with the activities to reinforce or learn, and the ability to monitor the progress of the users as they complete tasks. The main objective of the assistive robotic platform LOLA2 is to provide a system that allows therapists to track how well the users understand and perform daily tasks. This paper focuses on the technical validation of the proposed platform and its application. To do so, we have carried out a set of tests with four users with neurodevelopmental problems and special physical conditions under the supervision of the corresponding therapeutic personnel. We present detailed results of all interventions with end users, analyzing the usability, effectiveness, and limitations of the proposed technology. During its initial technical validation with real users, LOLA2 was able to detect the actions of users with disabilities with high precision. It was able to distinguish four assigned daily actions with high accuracy, but some actions were more challenging due to the physical limitations of the users. Generally, the presence of the robot in the therapy sessions received excellent feedback from medical professionals as well as patients. Overall, this study demonstrates that our developed robot is capable of assisting and monitoring people with neurodevelopmental disorders in performing their daily living tasks.This research was funded by project AIRPLANE, with reference PID2019-104323RB-C31, of Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation

Electrical properties of biomorphic SiC ceramics and SiC/Si composites fabricated from medium density fiberboard

A study has been made of the dependences of the electrical resistivity and the Hall coefficient on the temperature in the range 1.8–1300 K and on magnetic fields of up to 28 kOe for the biomorphic SiC/Si (MDF-SiC/Si) composite and biomorphic porous SiC (MDF-SiC) based upon artificial cellulosic precursor (MDF – medium density fiberboards). It has been shown that electric transport in MDF-SiC is effected by carriers of n-type with a high concentration of ∼1020 cm−3 and a low mobility of ∼0.4 cm2 V−1 s−1. The specific features in the conductivity of MDF-SiC are explained by quantum effects arising in disordered systems and requiring quantum corrections to conductivity. The TEM studies confirmed the presence of disordering structural features (nanocrystalline regions) in MDF-SiC. The conductivity of MDF-SiC/Si composite originates primarily from Si component in the temperature range 1.8–500 K and since ∼500 to 600 K the contribution of MDF-SiC matrix becomes dominant

Ovarian stroma secreting thyroid hormones in a 15-year-old female patient. Case Report

El Estroma ovárico es un tipo especializado de quiste dermoide ovárico en el que el tejido tiroideo constituye más del 50% de su composición y representa aproximadamente del 2% al 3% de todos los tumores dermoides. La mayoría son benignos, los cambios malignos ocurren sólo en el 0,5 al 10% de los casos. Los quistes benignos pueden presentarse como metástasis a distancia, lo que los hace biológicamente similares a los tumores malignos. Este fenómeno, también conocido como tumor del estroma peritoneal, se ha descrito sólo en unos pocos casos. Debido a que la cirugía para tumores benignos y malignos es muy diferente, la evaluación preoperatoria es muy importante. El tratamiento del bocio ovárico benigno es unilateral. Cirugía para extirpar tumores de ovario. Si se producen cambios malignos, se debe realizar una tiroidectomía total seguida de terapia con yodo radiactivo según el riesgo de recurrencia y la presencia de enfermedad metastásica.Se reporta paciente femenina de 15 años que acude por presentar dolor abdominal, localizado en región hipogástrica, se acompaña con náuseas y escalofríos motivo por el cual acude.Ovarian Stroma is a specialized type of ovarian dermoid cyst in which thyroid tissue makes up more than 50% of its composition and accounts for approximately 2% to 3% of all dermoid tumors. Most are benign, malignant changes occur only in 0.5 to 10% of cases. Benign cysts can present as distant metastases, making them biologically similar to malignant tumors. This phenomenon, also known as peritoneal stromal tumor, has been described in only a few cases. Because surgery for benign and malignant tumors is very different, preoperative evaluation is very important. The treatment of benign ovarian goiter is unilateral. Surgery to remove ovarian tumors. If malignant changes occur, a total thyroidectomy followed by radioactive iodine therapy should be performed depending on the risk of recurrence and the presence of metastatic disease. A 15-year-old female patient is reported to have presented with abdominal pain, located in the hypogastric region, accompanied by nausea and chills, which is why she came

Effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists on neurological complications of diabetes

Emerging evidence suggests that treatment with glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) could be an interesting treatment strategy to reduce neurological complications such as stroke, cognitive impairment, and peripheral neuropathy. We performed a systematic review to examine the evidence concerning the effects of GLP-1 RAs on neurological complications of diabetes. The databases used were Pubmed, Scopus and Cochrane. We selected clinical trials which analysed the effect of GLP-1 RAs on stroke, cognitive impairment, and peripheral neuropathy. We found a total of 19 studies: 8 studies include stroke or major cardiovascular events, 7 involve cognitive impairment and 4 include peripheral neuropathy. Semaglutide subcutaneous and dulaglutide reduced stroke cases. Liraglutide, albiglutide, oral semaglutide and efpeglenatide, were not shown to reduce the number of strokes but did reduce major cardiovascular events. Exenatide, dulaglutide and liraglutide improved general cognition but no significant effect on diabetic peripheral neuropathy has been reported with GLP-1 RAs. GLP-1 RAs are promising drugs that seem to be useful in the reduction of some neurological complications of diabetes. However, more studies are neededThis work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (PI19/01375) co-financed with FEDER programme fund. Funding for open access publishing: Universidad Málaga/CBU

Lentiviral vectors for inducible, transactivator-free advanced therapy medicinal products: Application to CAR-T cells

Controlling transgene expression through an externally administered inductor is envisioned as a potent strategy to improve safety and efficacy of gene therapy approaches. Generally, inducible ON systems require a chimeric transcription factor (transactivator) that becomes activated by an inductor, which is not optimal for clinical translation due to their toxicity. We generated previously the first all-in-one, transactivator-free, doxycycline (Dox)-responsive (Lent-On-Plus or LOP) lentiviral vectors (LVs) able to control transgene expression in human stem cells. Here, we have generated new versions of the LOP LVs and have analyzed their applicability for the generation of inducible advanced therapy medicinal products (ATMPs) with special focus on primary human T cells. We have shown that, contrary to all other cell types analyzed, an Is2 insulator must be inserted into the 30 long terminal repeat of the LOP LVs in order to control transgene expression in human primary T cells. Importantly, inducible primary T cells generated by the LOPIs2 LVs are responsive to ultralow doses of Dox and have no changes in phenotype or function compared with untransduced T cells. We validated the LOPIs2 system by generating inducible CAR-T cells that selectively kill CD19+ cells in the presence of Dox. In summary, we describe here the first transactivatorfree, all-one-one system capable of generating Dox-inducible ATMPs.Spanish ISCIII Health Research FundEuropean Union (EU) PI18/00337 PI21/00298 RD21/0017/0004 PI18/00330 PI17/00672Red TerAvJunta de Andalucia FEDER/European Cohesion Fund (FSE) for AndalusiaSpanish Government PI18/00337 PI21/00298European Union-NextGenerationEU - Maria Zambrano Senior Program RD21/0017/0004 PI18/00330 PI17/00672Ministry of Health 2016000073332-TRA PI-57069 CARTPI-0001-201 PE-CART-0031-2020 PI-0014-2016 PECART-0027-2020 ProyExcel_00875 PEER-0286-2019European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) 00123009/SNEO-20191072MINECO - European Regional Development Fund PLEC2021-008094Spanish Government 0006/2018FEDER/Junta de Andalucia-Consejeria de Transformacion Economica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades CA21113Spanish Government SAF2015-71589-PMCI RYC-2016-21395German Research Foundation (DFG) PY20_00619 y A-CTS-28_UGR20Biomedicine Program of the University of Granada (Spain) FPU16/05467 FPU17/02268 FPU17/04327 DIN2018-010180 DIN2020-011550 PEJ-2018-001760-