Epidemiology and echinocandin susceptibility of Candida parapsilosis sensu lato species isolated from bloodstream infections at a Spanish University Hospital

Objectives: The aims of this work were to study the epidemiological profiles, differences in echinocandin susceptibilities and clinical relevance of the Candida parapsilosis sensu lato species isolated from proven fungaemia cases at La Fe University Hospital of Valencia (Spain) from 1995 to 2007.The aims of this work were to study the epidemiological profiles, differences in echinocandin susceptibilities and clinical relevance of the Candida parapsilosis sensu lato species isolated from proven fungaemia cases at La Fe University Hospital of Valencia (Spain) from 1995 to 2007. Results: The prevalence of these species was: C. parapsilosis sensu stricto, 74.4%; Candida orthopsilosis, 23.54%; and Candida metapsilosis, 2.05%. The incidence of the species complex as agents of fungaemia remained stationary until 2005 and doubled in 2006. The incidence of C. orthopsilosis showed an increasing trend during the study period, while C. parapsilosis sensu stricto incidence diminished. Also, an important epidemiological change was observed starting in 2004, when 86.5% of the C. parapsilosis sensu lato strains were found in adult patients, while before that year only 13.5% of the isolates were found in this population. Conclusions: Echinocandin drug susceptibility testing using the CLSI M27-A3 document showed a wide range of MIC values (0.015?4 mg/L), with micafungin being the most potent in vitro inhibitor followed by anidulafungin and caspofungin (MIC geometric mean of 0.68, 0.74 and 0.87 mg/L, respectively). C. metapsilosis was the most susceptible species of the complex to anidulafungin and micafungin in vitro (MIC50 for anidulafungin and micafungin: 0.06 mg/L), while there were no differences between C. parapsilosis sensu lato species when caspofungin MIC50s were compared (MIC50 1.00 mg/L). Differences in caspofungin in vitro susceptibility were observed between the different clinical service departments of La Fe Hospital.Echinocandin drug susceptibility testing using the CLSI M27-A3 document showed a wide range of MIC values (0.015?4 mg/L), with micafungin being the most potent in vitro inhibitor followed by anidulafungin and caspofungin (MIC geometric mean of 0.68, 0.74 and 0.87 mg/L, respectively). C. metapsilosis was the most susceptible species of the complex to anidulafungin and micafungin in vitro (MIC50 for anidulafungin and micafungin: 0.06 mg/L), while there were no differences between C. parapsilosis sensu lato species when caspofungin MIC50s were compared (MIC50 1.00 mg/L). Differences in caspofungin in vitro susceptibility were observed between the different clinical service departments of La Fe Hospital.Fil: Garcia, Guillermo Manuel. Public Health Research Institute; Estados Unidos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Santa Fe; ArgentinaFil: Canton, Emilia. Hospital Universitario la Fe; EspañaFil: Pemán, Javier. Hospital Universitario la Fe; EspañaFil: Dilger, Amanda. Public Health Research Institute; Estados UnidosFil: Romá, Eva. Hospital Universitario la Fe; EspañaFil: Perlin, David S.. Public Health Research Institute; Estados Unido

A Wearable Textile 3D Gesture Recognition Sensor Based on Screen-Printing Technology

[EN] Research has developed various solutions in order for computers to recognize hand gestures in the context of human machine interface (HMI). The design of a successful hand gesture recognition system must address functionality and usability. The gesture recognition market has evolved from touchpads to touchless sensors, which do not need direct contact. Their application in textiles ranges from the field of medical environments to smart home applications and the automotive industry. In this paper, a textile capacitive touchless sensor has been developed by using screen-printing technology. Two different designs were developed to obtain the best configuration, obtaining good results in both cases. Finally, as a real application, a complete solution of the sensor with wireless communications is presented to be used as an interface for a mobile phone.The work presented is funded by the Conselleria d'Economia Sostenible, Sectors Productius i Treball, through IVACE (Instituto Valenciano de Competitividad Empresarial) and cofounded by ERDF funding from the EU. Application No.: IMAMCI/2019/1. This work was also supported by the Spanish Government/FEDER funds (RTI2018-100910-B-C43) (MINECO/FEDER).Ferri Pascual, J.; Llinares Llopis, R.; Moreno Canton, J.; Ibáñez Civera, FJ.; Garcia-Breijo, E. (2019). A Wearable Textile 3D Gesture Recognition Sensor Based on Screen-Printing Technology. Sensors. 19(23):1-32. https://doi.org/10.3390/s19235068S1321923Chakraborty, B. K., Sarma, D., Bhuyan, M. K., & MacDorman, K. F. (2017). Review of constraints on vision‐based gesture recognition for human–computer interaction. IET Computer Vision, 12(1), 3-15. doi:10.1049/iet-cvi.2017.0052Zhang, Z. (2012). Microsoft Kinect Sensor and Its Effect. IEEE Multimedia, 19(2), 4-10. doi:10.1109/mmul.2012.24Rautaray, S. S. (2012). Real Time Hand Gesture Recognition System for Dynamic Applications. International Journal of UbiComp, 3(1), 21-31. doi:10.5121/iju.2012.3103Karim, R. A., Zakaria, N. F., Zulkifley, M. A., Mustafa, M. M., Sagap, I., & Md Latar, N. H. (2013). Telepointer technology in telemedicine : a review. BioMedical Engineering OnLine, 12(1), 21. doi:10.1186/1475-925x-12-21Santos, L., Carbonaro, N., Tognetti, A., González, J., de la Fuente, E., Fraile, J., & Pérez-Turiel, J. (2018). Dynamic Gesture Recognition Using a Smart Glove in Hand-Assisted Laparoscopic Surgery. Technologies, 6(1), 8. doi:10.3390/technologies6010008Singh, A., Buonassisi, J., & Jain, S. (2014). Autonomous Multiple Gesture Recognition System for Disabled People. International Journal of Image, Graphics and Signal Processing, 6(2), 39-45. doi:10.5815/ijigsp.2014.02.05Ohn-Bar, E., & Trivedi, M. M. (2014). Hand Gesture Recognition in Real Time for Automotive Interfaces: A Multimodal Vision-Based Approach and Evaluations. IEEE Transactions on Intelligent Transportation Systems, 15(6), 2368-2377. doi:10.1109/tits.2014.2337331Khan, S. A., & Engelbrecht, A. P. (2010). A fuzzy particle swarm optimization algorithm for computer communication network topology design. Applied Intelligence, 36(1), 161-177. doi:10.1007/s10489-010-0251-2Abraham, L., Urru, A., Normani, N., Wilk, M., Walsh, M., & O’Flynn, B. (2018). Hand Tracking and Gesture Recognition Using Lensless Smart Sensors. Sensors, 18(9), 2834. doi:10.3390/s18092834Zeng, Q., Kuang, Z., Wu, S., & Yang, J. (2019). A Method of Ultrasonic Finger Gesture Recognition Based on the Micro-Doppler Effect. Applied Sciences, 9(11), 2314. doi:10.3390/app9112314Lien, J., Gillian, N., Karagozler, M. E., Amihood, P., Schwesig, C., Olson, E., … Poupyrev, I. (2016). Soli. ACM Transactions on Graphics, 35(4), 1-19. doi:10.1145/2897824.2925953Sang, Y., Shi, L., & Liu, Y. (2018). Micro Hand Gesture Recognition System Using Ultrasonic Active Sensing. IEEE Access, 6, 49339-49347. doi:10.1109/access.2018.2868268Ferri, J., Lidón-Roger, J., Moreno, J., Martinez, G., & Garcia-Breijo, E. (2017). A Wearable Textile 2D Touchpad Sensor Based on Screen-Printing Technology. Materials, 10(12), 1450. doi:10.3390/ma10121450Nunes, J., Castro, N., Gonçalves, S., Pereira, N., Correia, V., & Lanceros-Mendez, S. (2017). Marked Object Recognition Multitouch Screen Printed Touchpad for Interactive Applications. Sensors, 17(12), 2786. doi:10.3390/s17122786Ferri, J., Perez Fuster, C., Llinares Llopis, R., Moreno, J., & Garcia‑Breijo, E. (2018). Integration of a 2D Touch Sensor with an Electroluminescent Display by Using a Screen-Printing Technology on Textile Substrate. Sensors, 18(10), 3313. doi:10.3390/s18103313Cronin, S., & Doherty, G. (2018). Touchless computer interfaces in hospitals: A review. Health Informatics Journal, 25(4), 1325-1342. doi:10.1177/1460458217748342Haslinger, L., Wasserthal, S., & Zagar, B. G. (2017). P3.1 - A capacitive measurement system for gesture regocnition. Proceedings Sensor 2017. doi:10.5162/sensor2017/p3.1Cherenack, K., & van Pieterson, L. (2012). Smart textiles: Challenges and opportunities. Journal of Applied Physics, 112(9), 091301. doi:10.1063/1.474272

Audiovisual head orientation estimation with particle filtering in multisensor scenarios

This article presents a multimodal approach to head pose estimation of individuals in environments equipped with multiple cameras and microphones, such as SmartRooms or automatic video conferencing. Determining the individuals head orientation is the basis for many forms of more sophisticated interactions between humans and technical devices and can also be used for automatic sensor selection (camera, microphone) in communications or video surveillance systems. The use of particle filters as a unified framework for the estimation of the head orientation for both monomodal and multimodal cases is proposed. In video, we estimate head orientation from color information by exploiting spatial redundancy among cameras. Audio information is processed to estimate the direction of the voice produced by a speaker making use of the directivity characteristics of the head radiation pattern. Furthermore, two different particle filter multimodal information fusion schemes for combining the audio and video streams are analyzed in terms of accuracy and robustness. In the first one, fusion is performed at a decision level by combining each monomodal head pose estimation, while the second one uses a joint estimation system combining information at data level. Experimental results conducted over the CLEAR 2006 evaluation database are reported and the comparison of the proposed multimodal head pose estimation algorithms with the reference monomodal approaches proves the effectiveness of the proposed approach.Postprint (published version

Ten Issues for Updating in Community-Acquired Pneumonia: An Expert Review

Aetiology; Community acquired pneumonia; Radiologic findingsEtiologia; Pneumònia adquirida a la comunitat; Troballes radiològiquesEtiología; Neumonía adquirida en la comunidad; Hallazgos radiológicosCommunity-acquired pneumonia represents the third-highest cause of mortality in industrialized countries and the first due to infection. Although guidelines for the approach to this infection model are widely implemented in international health schemes, information continually emerges that generates controversy or requires updating its management. This paper reviews the most important issues in the approach to this process, such as an aetiologic update using new molecular platforms or imaging techniques, including the diagnostic stewardship in different clinical settings. It also reviews both the Intensive Care Unit admission criteria and those of clinical stability to discharge. An update in antibiotic, in oxygen, or steroidal therapy is presented. It also analyzes the management out-of-hospital in CAP requiring hospitalization, the main factors for readmission, and an approach to therapeutic failure or rescue. Finally, the main strategies for prevention and vaccination in both immunocompetent and immunocompromised hosts are reviewed

La relación entre la violencia filio-parental y el bullying y cyberbullying

Uno de los propósitos fundamentales en la investigación del fenómeno de la violencia filio-parental en los últimos años ha sido la comprensión de los factores de riesgo y variables asociadas a nivel psicológico y social. El objetivo de este estudio fue analizar, en una muestra conformada por estudiantes de educación secundaria y bachillerato, las relaciones entre el bullying y ciberbullying (ya sea como víctima o como agresor) con la comisión de la VFP, controlando la edad y el sexo de los participantes. La VFP fue evaluada mediante el Cuestionario de Violencia Filio-Parental (CPV-Q; Contreras et al., 2019), mientras que el bullying y ciberbullying fueron evaluados mediante Cuestionario del proyecto europeo de intervención contra el bullying (EBIP-Q) y el ciberbullying (ECIP-Q) (Ortega-Ruiz et al., 2016), respectivamente. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 118 participantes, 56 chicos y 62 chicas, de entre 15 y 22 años (M= 16.44; DT= 0.10). Los análisis de regresión lineal múltiple mostraron que la VFP se relacionaba con ser tanto víctima como agresor de bullying, sin embargo, no estaba relacionada con ser víctima ni agresor de ciberbullying. La presente investigación contribuye a incrementar el conocimiento acerca de las variables relacionadas con la violencia hacia los progenitores, mostrando la asociación entre la presencia de violencia en la escuela y la violencia hacia los padres. Estos hallazgos reflejan la importancia de considerar estas variables en la prevención de la VFP.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Characterization of Immune Cell Infiltration in the Placentome of Water Buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) Infected with Neospora caninum During Pregnancy

Neospora caninum infection in cattle stimulates host immune responses, which may be responsible for placental damage leading to abortion. Susceptibility of water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis) to neosporosis is not well understood, although vertical transmission and fetal death have been documented. The aim of this study was to characterize the immune response in the placentome of water buffalo following experimental infection in early gestation with the Nc-1 strain of N. caninum. Placentomes were examined by immunohistochemistry using antibodies specific for T-cell subsets, natural killer cells and CD79αcy cells. Placental inflammation was characterized by the infiltration of CD3+ and CD4+ T cells and T cells expressing the γδ T-cell receptor. The distribution of these cellular subsets in buffalo placentomes was similar to that previously described in cattle infected with N. caninum in early gestation, but the lesions were milder, which may explain the lower number of abortions observed in this species after infection.EEA BalcarceFil: Canton, German Jose. Moredun Research Institute; Reino Unido. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; ArgentinaFil: Konrad, Jose Luis. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Veterinaria; ArgentinaFil: Moore, Prando Dadin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Caspe, Sergio Gaston. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Mercedes; ArgentinaFil: Palarea-Albaladejo, Javier. Biomathematics & Statistics Scotland; Reino UnidoFil: Campero, Carlos Manuel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Balcarce; ArgentinaFil: Chianini, Francesca. Moredun Research Institute; Reino Unid

Acoustic event detection based on feature-level fusion of audio and video modalities

Research articleAcoustic event detection (AED) aims at determining the identity of sounds and their temporal position in audio signals. When applied to spontaneously generated acoustic events, AED based only on audio information shows a large amount of errors, which are mostly due to temporal overlaps. Actually, temporal overlaps accounted for more than 70% of errors in the realworld interactive seminar recordings used in CLEAR 2007 evaluations. In this paper, we improve the recognition rate of acoustic events using information from both audio and video modalities. First, the acoustic data are processed to obtain both a set of spectrotemporal features and the 3D localization coordinates of the sound source. Second, a number of features are extracted from video recordings by means of object detection, motion analysis, and multicamera person tracking to represent the visual counterpart of several acoustic events. A feature-level fusion strategy is used, and a parallel structure of binary HMM-based detectors is employed in our work. The experimental results show that information from both the microphone array and video cameras is useful to improve the detection rate of isolated as well as spontaneously generated acoustic events.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Emerging insights into nitrogen assimilation in gymnosperms

Gymnosperms are a heterogeneous and ancient group of seed plants that includes conifers, ginkgos, cycads and gnetophytes. Molecular studies on extant gymnosperms have been constrained by some discouraging features for experimental research such as their long life cycles, large sizes, complex megagenomes and abundant phenolic compounds in their woody tissues. However, the development of high-throughput sequencing and refined multiomics technologies in the last few years has allowed to explore the molecular basis of essential processes in this ancient lineage of plants. Nitrogen is one of the main limiting factors determining vascular development and biomass production in woody plants. Therefore, nitrogen uptake, metabolism, storage and recycling are essential processes for fundamental gymnosperm biology. Here, recent progress in the molecular regulation of nitrogen assimilation in gymnosperms is reviewed and some future perspectives on this topic are outlined.This research was fnancially supported by Ministry of Science and Innovation (BIO2015-73512-JIN, RTI2018-094041-B-I00 and PID2021-125040OB-I00) and by Junta de Andalucía (P20-00036 PAIDI 2020/FEDER, UE). JMVM was supported by a Grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education (FPU17/03517). Funding for open access publishing: Universidad Málaga/CBUA

Primary Repair of Moderate Severity Rhegmatogenous Retinal Detachment: A Critical Decision-Making Algorithm

We reviewed all the available data regarding the current management of non-complex rhegmatogenous retinal detachment and aimed to propose a new decision-making algorithm aimed to improve the single surgery success rate for mid-severity rhegmatogenous retinal detachment. An online review of the Pubmed database was performed. We searched for all available manuscripts about the anatomical and functional outcomes after the surgical management, by either scleral buckle or primary pars plana vitrectomy, of retinal detachment. The search was limited to articles published from January 1995 to December 2015. All articles obtained from the search were carefully screened and their references were manually reviewed for additional relevant data. Our search specifically focused on preoperative clinical data that were associated with the surgical outcomes. After categorizing the available data according to their level of evidence, with randomized-controlled clinical trials as the highest possible level of evidence, followed by retrospective studies, and retrospective case series as the lowest level of evidence, we proceeded to design a logical decision-making algorithm, enhanced by our experiences as retinal surgeons. A total of 7 randomized-controlled clinical trials, 19 retrospective studies, and 9 case series were considered. Additional articles were also included in order to support the observations further. Rhegmatogenous retinal detachment is a potentially blinding disorder. Its surgical management seems to depend more on a surgeon´s preference than solid scientific data or is based on a good clinical history and examination. The algorithms proposed herein strive to offer a more rational approach to improve both anatomical and functional outcomes after the first surgery

Does native Trypanosoma cruzi calreticulin mediate growth inhibition of a mammary tumor during infection?

Indexación: Web of Science.Background: For several decades now an antagonism between Trypanosoma cruzi infection and tumor development has been detected. The molecular basis of this phenomenon remained basically unknown until our proposal that T. cruzi Calreticulin (TcCRT), an endoplasmic reticulum-resident chaperone, translocated-externalized by the parasite, may mediate at least an important part of this effect. Thus, recombinant TcCRT (rTcCRT) has important in vivo antiangiogenic and antitumor activities. However, the relevant question whether the in vivo antitumor effect of T. cruzi infection is indeed mediated by the native chaperone (nTcCRT), remains open. Herein, by using specific modified anti-rTcCRT antibodies (Abs), we have neutralized the antitumor activity of T. cruzi infection and extracts thereof, thus identifying nTcCRT as a valid mediator of this effect. Methods: Polyclonal anti-rTcCRT F(ab')(2) Ab fragments were used to reverse the capacity of rTcCRT to inhibit EAhy926 endothelial cell (EC) proliferation, as detected by BrdU uptake. Using these F(ab')(2) fragments, we also challenged the capacity of nTcCRT, during T. cruzi infection, to inhibit the growth of an aggressive mammary adenocarcinoma cell line (TA3-MTXR) in mice. Moreover, we determined the capacity of anti-rTcCRT Abs to reverse the antitumor effect of an epimastigote extract (EE). Finally, the effects of these treatments on tumor histology were evaluated. Results: The rTcCRT capacity to inhibit ECs proliferation was reversed by anti-rTcCRT F(ab')(2) Ab fragments, thus defining them as valid probes to interfere in vivo with this important TcCRT function. Consequently, during infection, these Ab fragments also reversed the in vivo experimental mammary tumor growth. Moreover, anti-rTcCRT Abs also neutralized the antitumor effect of an EE, again identifying the chaperone protein as an important mediator of this anti mammary tumor effect. Finally, as determined by conventional histological parameters, in infected animals and in those treated with EE, less invasive tumors were observed while, as expected, treatment with F(ab')(2) Ab fragments increased malignancy. Conclusion: We have identified translocated/externalized nTcCRT as responsible for at least an important part of the anti mammary tumor effect of the chaperone observed during experimental infections with T. cruzi.http://bmccancer.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12885-016-2764-