Test de activación de basófilos en el diagnóstico de alergia a medicamentos

In this paper we study the reliability of the basophil activation test (BAT) in the "in-vitro" diagnosis of allergy to betalactams and to metamizol, and the sensitivity and specificity of the technique are analyzed. To this end, we studied 58 patients allergic to betalactam antibiotics with a positive cutaneous test facing any derivative of penicillin and 30 healthy controls who tolerated betalactams, and 26 patients allergic to metamizol with an immediate reaction and 30 healthy controls who tolerated the medicine. Sensitivity to BAT in allergy to betalactams was 52.8%, and specificity was 92.6%. For metamizol, sensitivity was 42.3% and specificity was 100%. The positive predictive value of BAT in allergy to betalactams was 18.9% and the negative predictive value was 98.4%. For metamizol, the positive predictive value of the technique was 100% and the negative predictive value was 99.4%. The joint use of BAT and CAP (specific IgE) makes it possible to diagnose some 65% of patients allergic to betalactams. The combined use of cutaneous tests and BAT in allergy to metamizol detects 70% of the cases. BAT is a useful, non-invasive technique in the "in-vitro" diagnosis of allergy to betalactams and metamizol

Optical binding-driven micropatterning and photosculpting with silver nanorods

Controlling the nano- and micropatterning of metal structures is an important requirement for various technological applications in photonics and biosensing. This work presents a method for controllably creating silver micropatterns by laser-induced photosculpting. Photosculpting is driven by plasmonic interactions between pulsed laser radiation and silver nanorods (AgNRs) in aqueous suspension; this process leads to optical binding forces transporting the AgNRs in the surroundings, while electronic thermalization results in photooxidation, melting, and ripening of the AgNRs into well-defined 3D structures. This work call these structures Airy castles due to their structural similarity with a diffraction-limited Airy disk. The photosculpted Airy castles contain emissive Ag nanoclusters, allowing for the visualization and examination of the aggregation process using luminescence microscopy. This work comprehensively examines the factors that define the photosculpting process, namely, the concentration and shape of the AgNRs, as well as the energy, power, and repetition rate of the laser. Finally, this work investigates the potential applications by measuring the metal-enhanced luminescence of a europium-based luminophore using Airy castles

The contrast effect: QoE of mixed video-qualities at the same time

In desktop multi-party video-conferencing videostreams of participants are delivered in different qualities, but we know little about how such composition of the screen affects the quality of experience. Do the different videostreams serve as indirect quality references and the perceived video quality is thus dependent on other streams in the same session? How is the relation between the perceived qualities of each stream and the perceived quality of the overall session? To answer these questions we conducted a crowdsourcing study, in which we gathered over 5000 perceived quality ratings of overall sessions and individual streams. Our results show a contrast effect: high quality streams are rated better when more low quality streams are co-present, and vice versa. In turn, the quality p

A QoE study of different stream and layout configurations in video conferencing under limited network conditions

One particular problem of QoE research in video conferencing is, that most research in the past concentrated on one-to-one video conferencing or simply video consumption. However, video conferencing with two people (one-to-one) and within a group (multi-party) is different. Particularly, limitations of one participant might have an effect on the QoE of the whole group. This possible effect however is not well studied. Therefore, this paper aims to better understand the impact of individual limitations towards the groups QoE. To do so, we show a study about different video stream configurations and layouts for multi-party conferencing in respect to individual network limitations. For this, we conduct a user study with 20 participants in 5 groups, in a semi-controlled setup. Such a setup, combines supervising participants locally while still using our software infrastructure deployed in the internet. Furthermore, we use an asymmetric experiment design, by putting every participant under a different condition, as this proposes a more realistic scenario. Within our study, we look at three different factors: layout, video quality and network limitations. To foster conversation between participants, the group engaged in a discussion about different survival questions. Our findings show that packet loss and the resulting distortions have a greater impact on the QoE as reducing the video quality by its resolution. Furthermore, our findings indicate that participants are more satisfied in a visually equal layout (showing participants in a similar size) and a more balanced stream configuration

Use cases for Internet of Things (IoT) in the construction sector: Lessons from leading industries

This study conducts a cross-sectoral comparative analysis of academic and industry literature to determine the use cases of the internet of things (IoT). Specifically, the research seeks to explore digital applications (e.g., building information modeling (BIM), radio frequency identification (RFID)) within the construction supply chain – a sector berated for its lack of innovation. An interpretivist epistemological lens provides the overarching methodological approach adopted in which the literature constitutes units of analysis. Ensuing discussion defines the architecture of proposed real-life scenarios and provides a description of an IoT layout for these scenarios. In practical terms, the study contributes to the field by raising awareness of potential use cases of IoT for construction practitioners as ‘proof of concepts’. For researchers, the findings provide a blueprint template layout of suggested use cases to be tested in future research studies hence, offering a sound basis and a fertile ground for advancing the body of knowledge on this topic area

Phase-space analysis of interacting phantom cosmology

We perform a detailed phase-space analysis of various phantom cosmological models, where the dark energy sector interacts with the dark matter one. We examine whether there exist late-time scaling attractors, corresponding to an accelerating universe and possessing dark energy and dark matter densities of the same order. We find that all the examined models, although accepting stable late-time accelerated solutions, cannot alleviate the coincidence problem, unless one imposes a form of fine-tuning in the model parameters. It seems that interacting phantom cosmology cannot fulfill the basic requirement that led to its construction.Comment: 6 figures, use revtex, v2: minor corrections, references added, accepted for publication in JCA

1Mbps is enough: video quality and individual idiosyncrasies in multiparty HD video-conferencing

Most video platforms deliver HD video in high bitrate encoding. Modern video-conferencing systems are capable of handling HD streams, but using multiparty conferencing, average internet connections in the home are on their bandwidth limit. For properly managing the encoding bitrate in videoconferencing, we must know what is the minimum bitrate requirement to provide users an acceptable experience, and what is the bitrate level after which QoE saturates?. Most available subjective studies in this area used rather dated technologies. We report on a multiparty study on video quality with HD resolution. We tested different encoding bitrates (256kbs, 1024kbs and 4096kbs) and packet loss rates (0, 0.5%) in groups of 4 participants with a

Noncommutativity, generalized uncertainty principle and FRW cosmology

We consider the effects of noncommutativity and the generalized uncertainty principle on the FRW cosmology with a scalar field. We show that, the cosmological constant problem and removability of initial curvature singularity find natural solutions in this scenarios.Comment: 8 pages, to appear in IJT

D-brane Spectrum and K-theory Constraints of D=4, N=1 Orientifolds

We study the spectrum of stable BPS and non-BPS D-branes in Z_2 x Z_2 orientifolds for all choices of discrete torsion between the orbifold and orientifold generators. We compute the torsion K-theory charges in these D=4, N=1 orientifold models directly from worldsheet conformal field theory, and compare with the K-theory constraints obtained indirectly using D-brane probes. The K-theory torsion charges derived here provide non-trivial constraints on string model building. We also discuss regions of stability for non-BPS D-branes in these examples.Comment: 40 pages, 5 table