Investigation of channel spatial diversity for dual-link cooperative communications in Wireless Body Area Networks

Projecte final de carerra fet en col.laboració amb Université Catholique de LouvainThis document has been divided in 5 chapters. The rst one has consisted on an introduction to better understand the aims of this project, a brief description of the state-of-the-art and how the project is structured. Chapter 2 explains in detail how measurements are set and all the instruments involved with them. In Chapter 3 the statistical analysis of the channels is developed from the VNA measurements results. Chapter 4 investigates the diversity bene ts in terms of both BER and variance. Finally, Chapter 5 contains the nal conclusions of the project and future work. Actually, there is also Chapter 6, which is composed of the Annexes, where there is the complete set of measurements results and all the gures that were not shown in the document because of spatial reasons

Upregulating Positive Affectivity in the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders: A Randomized Pilot Study

Transdiagnostic cognitive-behavioral therapy for emotional disorders (ED) has proven to be effective. However, current transdiagnostic treatment protocols address only the regulation of negative affectivity, and they do not include treatment components to more directly target the regulation of positive affectivity. In this study, we propose to evaluate the preliminary efficacy and acceptability of a transdiagnostic treatment protocol for ED that includes, as an innovative feature, a specific treatment component to directly upregulate positive affectivity based on positive psychology interventions. A total of 24 participants were randomized to either a transdiagnostic treatment protocol (n = 12) or a transdiagnostic treatment protocol with an additional component designed to regulate positive affectivity (n = 12). Participants completed measures of anxiety, depression, positive and negative affectivity, and quality of life, as well as treatment acceptability at pre- and posttreatment and at the 3-month follow-up. Both interventions led to improvements in all measures at posttreatment, and these outcomes were maintained at the 3-month follow-up, with large effect sizes for all measures. The effect sizes for positive affect were larger in the condition that included the component to upregulate positive affectivity. Attrition rate was low, and both treatment protocols were well accepted by participants. The results obtained in this study indicate the feasibility of testing the treatment protocol in a larger, randomized, controlled trial, and they suggest the potential of including treatment components for directly upregulating positive affectivity in future research on transdiagnostic treatment protocols for ED

Investigation of channel spatial diversity for dual-link cooperative communications in Wireless Body Area Networks

Projecte final de carerra fet en col.laboració amb Université Catholique de LouvainThis document has been divided in 5 chapters. The rst one has consisted on an introduction to better understand the aims of this project, a brief description of the state-of-the-art and how the project is structured. Chapter 2 explains in detail how measurements are set and all the instruments involved with them. In Chapter 3 the statistical analysis of the channels is developed from the VNA measurements results. Chapter 4 investigates the diversity bene ts in terms of both BER and variance. Finally, Chapter 5 contains the nal conclusions of the project and future work. Actually, there is also Chapter 6, which is composed of the Annexes, where there is the complete set of measurements results and all the gures that were not shown in the document because of spatial reasons

Wnt Signaling as a Master Regulator of Immune Tolerance in a Tumor Microenvironment

Aberrant Wnt signaling is a hallmark of many cancer types such as colon cancer. However, the effect of altered Wnt signaling is not only restricted to cancer cells but also dynamically interacts with a tumor microenvironment and has the ability to directly regulate the anti-tumor immune response. It has been reported that tumors induce immune tolerance through the activation of canonical Wnt signaling in dendritic cells promoting T regulatory responses, and also that both canonical and noncanonical Wnt proteins program dendritic cell responses for tolerance. Thus, the Wnt signaling pathway may be a novel and promising therapeutic target for anticancer immunotherapy. In this review, we will discuss the molecular mechanisms involved in immune cell response regulation mediated by canonical and noncanonical Wnt signaling

Long-term Effectiveness and Predictors of Transdiagnostic Internet-Delivered Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Emotional Disorders in Specialized Care: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial

Background: Transdiagnostic internet-delivered cognitive behavioral therapy (iCBT) for emotional disorders has been shown to be effective in specialized care in the short term. However, less is known about its long-term effects in this specific setting. In addition, predictors of long-term effectiveness may help to identify what treatments are more suitable for certain individuals. Objective: This study aimed to analyze the long-term effectiveness of transdiagnostic iCBT compared with that of treatment as usual (TAU) in specialized care and explore predictors of long-term effectiveness. Methods: Mixed models were performed to analyze the long-term effectiveness and predictors of transdiagnostic iCBT (n=99) versus TAU (n=101) in public specialized mental health care. Outcomes included symptoms of depression and anxiety, health-related quality of life (QoL), behavioral inhibition and behavioral activation, comorbidity, and diagnostic status (ie, loss of principal diagnosis) from baseline to 1-year follow-up. Sociodemographic characteristics (sex, age, and education) and clinical variables (principal diagnosis, comorbidity, and symptom severity at baseline) were selected as predictors of long-term changes. Results: Compared with baseline, transdiagnostic iCBT was more effective than TAU in improving symptoms of depression (b=–4.16, SE 1.80, 95% CI –7.68 to –0.67), health-related QoL (b=7.63, SE 3.41, 95% CI 1.00-14.28), diagnostic status (b=–0.24, SE 0.09, 95% CI –1.00 to –0.15), and comorbidity at 1-year follow-up (b=–0.58, SE 0.22, 95% CI –1.00 to –0.15). From pretreatment assessment to follow-up, anxiety symptoms improved in both transdiagnostic iCBT and TAU groups, but no significant differences were found between the groups. Regarding the predictors of the long-term effectiveness of transdiagnostic iCBT compared with that of TAU, higher health-related QoL at follow-up was predicted by a baseline diagnosis of anxiety, male sex, and the use of psychiatric medication; fewer comorbid disorders at follow-up were predicted by older age and higher baseline scores on health-related QoL; and fewer depressive symptoms at follow-up were predicted by baseline diagnosis of depression. However, this pattern was not observed for baseline anxiety diagnoses and anxiety symptoms. Conclusions: The results suggest that transdiagnostic iCBT is more effective than TAU to target depressive symptoms among patients with emotional disorders. Anxiety symptoms remained stable at 1-year follow-up, with no differences between the groups. Results on predictors suggest that some groups of patients may obtain specific gains after transdiagnostic iCBT. Specifically, and consistent with the literature, patients with baseline depression improved their depression scores at follow-up. However, this pattern was not found for baseline anxiety disorders. More studies on the predictor role of sociodemographic and clinical variable

Anthropogenic deforestation and climate dryness as drivers of demographic decline and genetic erosion in the southernmost European fir forests

A better understanding of long-term effects of climate and historical anthropogenic changes is needed to define effective conservation measures of endangered forest inhabiting managed landscapes. Diversification and distribution of Mediterranean firs are attributed to the global climate change during the Miocene and Quaternary as well as to the effects of human-driven deforestation. We evaluated the impact of climate change and anthropogenic activities in shaping the genetic diversity and structure of Abies pinsapo Boiss. (Pinaceae), a relict fir endemic from SW Spain. We genotyped a total of 440 individuals from 44 populations by using two different molecular markers (cpSSRs and nSSRs). Overall, low genetic structure was found; however, incipient differentiation appeared within mountain ranges. Analyses suggest that the effects of isolation by distance and lithological or topographical diversity were not enough to structure the populations of the different mountain ranges. The combined role of genetic drift in the small populations and the anthropogenic action associated with forest management has shaped the current genetic pattern of this fir species in the study area. Demographic inference analyses pointed to a very recent synchronic divergence (eleventh–sixteenth century) of the ancestral A. pinsapo population into its current scattered distribution range. Although population bottlenecks were supported by several analyses, the conservation of this endangered species seems not to be limited by lacking genetic diversity, while threats of current climate change and habitat loss must be regarded.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad P08-RNM-03703, P18-RT-1170, CGL2013-45463-PJunta de Andalucía IF/01375/2012, PTDC/BIA-BIC/5233/2014, POCI-01-0145- FEDER-01681

La regulación emocional en los trastornos emocionales, una piedra nodal para los abordajes transdiagnósticos: una revisión de la literatura

II Jornades d’Investigació per als Estudiants de Ciències de la Salut Facultat de Ciències de la SalutIntroducción: La regulación emocional se ha convertido en un tema de creciente interés, tanto a nivel de investigación básica (Tamir, 2011) como en diversos ámbitos aplicados, fundamentalmente el clínico (Aldao, Nolan-Hoeksema y Schweizer, 2010). Si bien la regulación emocional ha sido estudiada en un amplio conjunto de entidades psicopatológicas, una importante proporción de los desarrollos están vinculados con los trastornos emocionales. En ese sentido, la producción exponencial en relación a la regulación emocional en depresión y ansiedad requiere de notables esfuerzos teóricos para integrar los resultados empíricos. Este trabajo se propone presentar una integración de los principales aportes de la regulación emocional en el campo de los trastornos emocionales, enfatizando su importancia para los abordajes transdiagnósticos. Con dicho objetivo se ha realizado una revisión de la literatura a través de una búsqueda ascendente (ancestry approach). Método: Se utiliza el modelo de regulación emocional propuesto por Gross (1998) para organizar la siguiente revisión, con las innovaciones que aporta la revisión extendida de dicho modelo (Sheppes, Suri y Gross, 2015). Resultados: A través del análisis de la bibliografía se destaca la predominancia del estudio de estrategias de regulación emocional individuales y encubiertas tales como la supresión, la reevaluación, la aceptación o la rumiación. Se plantean los desafíos futuros en el campo de estudio de la regulación emocional en la psicopatología.Introducction: Emotion regulation has become a topic of increasing interest, both at the level of basic research (Tamir, 2011) and applied fields, mainly clinical (Aldao, Nolan- Hoeksema y Schweizer, 2010). While emotional regulation has been studied in a wide range of psychopathological entities, a significant proportion of the developments are linked to emotional disorders. In that sense, the exponential production in relation efforts to integrate the existing empirical findings. This work aims to present an integration of the main contributions of emotion regulation in the field of emotional disorders, emphasizing its importance for transdiagnostic approaches. With this objective a review of the literature through an ancestry approach was carried out. Method: The emotion regulation model proposed by Gross (1998) is taken to organize the next revision, linking the content to some of the innovations provided by the extended model (Sheppes, Suri y Gross, 2015). Results: In the light of the findings a prevalence of individual and covert strategies of emotion regulation such as suppression, reappraisal, acceptance or rumination stands out. Future prospects of the field of emotion regulation are considered

γ-Al2O3 as acid catalyst for dehydration of glucose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural

Currently, the search and development of sustainable feedstocks for chemicals derived from petrol have gained worldwide attraction because of the instability of the price of crude oil, the reduction of fossil oil reserves, and the environmental concerns associated to the greenhouse effect caused by CO2 emissions, being biomass one of the world’s most important renewable carbon sources. The major component of plant-derived biomass are carbohydrates, being of great importance to develop efficient and green approaches to their valorization by conversion into high value-added products. Thus, glucose can be transformed by dehydration into 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which is a versatile and key intermediate for the production of a wide variety of biobased chemicals and it is attracting much attention in biofuels and chemical industry. Different catalytic systems have been evaluated for HMF production from C6 carbohydrates as glucose, mostly based on heterogeneous catalysis as alternative to the use of liquid mineral acids. On the other hand, the high surface area, large pore size and thermal and hydrothermal stabilities of some mesoporous solids make them suitable for many catalytic processes. In the present work, the dehydration of glucose to HMF has been evaluated by using different mesoporous γ-Al2O3 with acid, neutral or basic character, in a biphasic water–MIBK solvent system to avoid the HMF degradation and its possible reaction with the intermediates from glucose to give soluble polymers and humins or acetalization with glucose. Different experimental parameters, such as reaction temperature and time, as well as the addition of inorganic salts have been studied in order to reach the maximum HMF yield.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (CTQ2012-38204-C04-02 project), Junta de Andalucía (RNM-1565) and FEDER fund

La aceptabilidad de un protocolo de tratamiento transdiagnóstico autoaplicado a través de internet: datos preliminares

Introducción: En los últimos años ha habido un interés creciente en abordar el trata-miento de los trastornos emocionales (te) desde una perspectiva transdiagnóstica. Los protocolos transdiagnósticos enfatizan los procesos esenciales subyacentes a los distintos te, son adecuados para el tratamiento de distintos trastornos psicológicos y permiten un abordaje más adecuado de la comorbilidad entre este tipo de trastornos. Por otra parte, el uso de las tecnologías de la información y la comunicación (tic) puede ayudar a que los tratamientos psicológicos lleguen a un mayor número de personas, contribuyendo de esta manera a mejorar su eficiencia. La mayoría de tra-bajos sobre protocolos de tratamiento online se centran en el estudio de su eficacia, sin embargo es importante también estudiar la aceptabilidad de este tipo de interven-ciones. Nuestro grupo de investigación ha desarrollado un protocolo de tratamiento transdiagnóstico para los te, y lo ha adaptado para que pueda ser aplicado a través de Internet. En este trabajo se describe este protocolo y se presentan datos prelimi-nares sobre su aceptabilidad. metodología: 12 participantes (edad media = 28,58, d. t. = 5,35) de una muestra clínica con un diagnóstico de te que recibieron un pro-tocolo de tratamiento transdiagnóstico combinado (terapia presencial + protocolo de tratamiento online). Se obtuvieron datos acerca de las expectativas y opinión de los participantes evaluadas con la escala de expectativas sobre el tratamiento y la esca-la de opinión sobre el tratamiento. resultados: Las puntuaciones obtenidas fueron elevadas en ambas variables relacionadas con la aceptación (expectativas y opi-nión). discusión: El estudio de la aceptabilidad por parte de los pacientes hacia estos programas es importante, ya que puede influir en la decisión acerca de iniciar y/o seguir este tipo de tratamientos. Contar con esta información puede ayudarnos en el desarrollo y mejora de los tratamientos psicológicos autoaplicados a través de Internet.Introduction: In recent years there has been great interest in addressing the treatment of ed from a transdiagnostic perspective. Transdiagnostic treatment protocols empha-size the essential underlying processes that are common to ed and are conceived of for the treatment of several mental disorders. Also, comorbidity among these disorders can be more adequately addressed from this perspective. In addition, Information and Communication Technologies (icts) can facilitate access by people for whom traditional therapy is not available thereby contributing to an improvement in its cost-effectiveness. Most of the articles about online treatment protocols are efficacy studies, nevertheless it is also important to analyze the acceptability of these types of interventions. Our re-search group has developed a transdiagnostic treatment protocol for the treatment of ed that has been adapted to be applied online over the Internet. The aim of this article is to describe the treatment protocol and to present data about its acceptability. me-thodology: 12 participants (mean age = 28.58, d. t. = 5.35) from a clinical sample with a diagnosis of ed which received a blended transdiagnostic protocol treatment (face-to-face therapy plus online treatment protocol). Scores of expectancies and opinion of treatment were assessed with the Expectancies Treatment Scale and the Opinion Treatment Scale. results: High scores in both variables related to acceptability (expec-tations and opinion of treatment) were obtained. discussion: The study of the accep-tability towards this kind of programs is important, since it may influence the participant’s decision to initiate and/or follow this kind of treatments. Counting on this information can help us in the development and improvement of Internet-based treatment proto-cols

Predicting response to transdiagnostic iCBT for emotional disorders from patient and therapist involvement

Background Transdiagnostic iCBT has been shown to be effective for the treatment of emotional disorders. Less is known about the optimal level of therapist and patient involvement in these interventions. Specific characteristics of Internet-delivered interventions include treatment adherence (e.g., amount of review of the materials) and guidance (e.g., amount of therapist support). Exploring the importance of these elements in treatment outcome may help to maximize the efficiency of Internet-delivered psychological interventions. Aim In this study, we aimed to analyze the relationship between patient and therapist involvement (i.e., platform usage and amount of therapist guidance) in a sample of patients with emotional disorders who received transdiagnostic iCBT in Spanish public specialized mental healthcare services. Method This is a secondary analysis of a randomized controlled trial. The sample included 63 patients who completed transdiagnostic iCBT for emotional disorders. Platform usage metrics included number of logins into the platform and number of times the participants reviewed the modules. Therapist guidance was measured as the number of support phone calls with a therapist and their total duration (minutes). Logistic regressions and ROC analyses were performed to explore the predictive value of platform usage and therapist guidance in symptom reduction. Clinical outcomes included depressive and anxiety symptoms assessed at baseline and post-intervention. The bivariate relationship between the platform usage and therapist guidance variables was also explored. Results Overall, platform usage and therapist guidance were not associated with symptom improvement. However, the patient and therapist involvement parameters were intercorrelated. Specifically, the number of calls and their duration were associated with a greater number of logins (r = 0.61; p < .001) and more frequent reviews of the modules (0.46 ≤ r ≤ 0.60; p < .001). Higher baseline depression and anxiety were, respectively, associated with greater improvements in depression (r = −0.37, p = .003) and anxiety after treatment completion (r = −0.48, p < .001). Discussion The results suggest that there is no reliable cut-off point for platform usage and therapist guidance in predicting optimal symptom reduction. However, significant associations were found between platform usage and guidance variables that warrant additional research. More research on this topic is necessary to further clarify the role of these and other platform usage and guidance variables in Internet-delivered iCBT outcomes