La afasia en las personas mayores

[Resumen] La afasia es una patología, secundaria a la enfermedad vascular cerebral, que cuenta con una gran incidencia en la población actual. Si se atiende a los factores de riesgo para padecer esta enfermedad se puede ver que el grupo más afectado va a ser el de las personas mayores. Por ello, mediante una revisión bibliográfica, se analizaron todas las características de la patología, su etiología y su tratamiento. El objetivo de este trabajo fue tratar de determinar las características de los pacientes aquejados de los distintos tipos de afasia y si existía alguna relación entre la afasia y la edad, haciendo a las personas de edades avanzadas más propensas a sufrir algún tipo de esta patología en particular. Se puede afirmar, tras el estudio, que esta última premisa no se cumple y que lo único que aumenta con la edad son el elevado número de factores de riesgo en los pacientes de edad avanzada.[Abstract] Aphasia is a pathology secondary to cerebral vascular disease, which has a large impact on the current population. If we look at the risk factors for developing this disease can be seen that the most affected group will be to the elderly. Thus, through a literature review is to try to analyze all the features of the disease, its etiology and treatment. The aim of this work is to determine the characteristics of patients suffering from different types of aphasia and whether there is any relationship between aphasia and age, making elderly people more likely to suffer some form of this particular pathology . It can be said, after examination, the latter assumption is not met and the only thing that increases with age are the high number of risk factors in the elderly.Traballo fin de mestrado (UDC.FCS). Mestrado en Xerontoloxía. Curso 2012/2013

Acrylic acid plasma coated 3D Scaffolds for Cartilage tissue engineering applications

Abstract The current generation of tissue engineered additive manufactured scaffolds for cartilage repair shows high potential for growing adult cartilage tissue. This study proposes two surface modification strategies based on non-thermal plasma technology for the modification of poly(ethylene oxide terephthalate/poly(butylene terephthalate) additive manufactured scaffolds to enhance their cell-material interactions. The first, plasma activation in a helium discharge, introduced non-specific polar functionalities. In the second approach, a carboxylic acid plasma polymer coating, using acrylic acid as precursor, was deposited throughout the scaffolds. Both surface modifications were characterized by significant changes in wettability, linked to the incorporation of new oxygen-containing functional groups. Their capacity for chondrogenesis was studied using ATDC5 chondroblasts as a model cell-line. The results demonstrate that the carboxylic acid-rich plasma coating had a positive effect on the generation of the glucoaminoglycans (GAG) matrix and stimulated the migration of cells throughout the scaffold. He plasma activation stimulated the formation of GAGs but did not stimulate the migration of chondroblasts throughout the scaffolds. Both plasma treatments spurred chondrogenesis by favoring GAG deposition. This leads to the overall conclusion that acrylic acid based plasma coatings exhibit potential as a surface modification technique for cartilage tissue engineering applications

Crisis management system for marine pollution

Peer Reviewe

Analysis of the illegal landfills ocurrence in La Palma Island, Spain

La proliferación de vertederos ilegales (VI) tiene impactos negativos, especialmente en áreas ecológicamente sensibles o de gran atractivo turístico, como los territorios insulares. Este trabajo se centra en la caracterización de los vertederos ilegales localizados en la Isla de La Palma. Se identificaron 153 localizaciones de vertederos ilegales mediante trabajo de campo y la fotointerpretación de ortofotografías con resolución espacial de 0,5 m de los años 2012 y 2015. Esta información se incluyó en una base datos geoespacial junto a distintas variables potencialmente explicativas de diferente tipología (150): tipo de residuo, control y vigilancia, socioeconómicas, de accesibilidad, distancia a elementos de interés, visibilidad y físicas. Con apoyo de la estadística exploratoria (AE) y técnicas de análisis multivariante: análisis factorial (AF) y análisis discriminante (AD), se analizó el grado de asociación entre las variables explicativas y la ocurrencia de VI. AF explicó una varianza acumulada del 82,34% considerando siete factores (Kaiser Mayer Olking: 0,71). AD mostró una correlación canónica del 0.854. AD consiguió distinguir entre zonas afectadas y no afectadas, usando variables como: densidad de población, distancia a superficies agrícolas, distancia a núcleos urbanos o la pendiente y el indicador de vegetación de diferencia normalizada (NDVI). Asimismo, AF identificó estas mismas variables como variables controladoras de la ocurrencia de VI.The proliferation of Illegal landfills (IL) has negative impacts on the environment and the economy, especially in both, ecological sensitive and touristic areas. This work focuses on the characterization of illegal landfills located in La Palma Island. 153 IL were obtained through field work and the visual interpretation of digital ortho-images at a spatial resolution 0.5 m for 2012 and 2015. This information was included within a geospatial database together with a set of 150 potential explanatory features of different typology: type of waste, surveillance and control, socioeconomics, accessibility, distance to elements of interest, visibility and terrain features. Multivariate analyses such as exploratory analysis (EA), factor analysis (FA) and discriminant analysis (DA) were applied to assess the degree of association between the explanatory features and the IL occurrence. AF explained a cumulative variance of 82.34% considering 7 factors (KaiserMeyer-Olkin test: 0.71). AD showed a canonical correlation of 0.78. AD leaded to discriminating between affected areas and non-affected areas using features such as: population density, slope, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) or distance to agricultural areas or distance to urban centers. Additionally, AF identified the former features as the main drivers of IV occurrence

Beyond renovation : addressing Europe's long housing crisis in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic

This commentary reflects on the potential of European Union institutions to address the continent's crisis of housing affordability, which was well underway before the COVID-19 pandemic and has been exacerbated in its wake. Despite having no direct competencies in housing policy, European Union norms and policies shape housing conditions in significant ways. The greater level of public spending on housing renovation enabled by the 2021-2027 multiannual financial framework and NextGeneration European Union funding signals a welcome shift away from austerity. However, investment alone is not enough to advance the right to housing and may even reinforce existing inequalities. Plans like the Renovation Wave and the Affordable Housing Initiative must strive not only for climate neutrality but also for housing cost and tenure neutrality. Beyond pandemic recovery plans, this commentary argues that a more thorough departure from the market-based approach underlying the European Union's institutionality is needed to tackle the roots of the current housing problematic

Two-Dimensional Line Strength Maps in Three Well-studied Early-Type Galaxies

Integral field spectroscopy has been obtained for the nuclear regions of 3 large, well-studied, early-type galaxies. From these spectra we have obtained line strength maps for about 20 absorption lines, mostly belonging to the Lick system. An extensive comparison with multi-lenslet spectroscopy shows that accurate kinematic maps can be obtained, and also reproducible line strength maps. Comparison with long-slit spectroscopy also produces good agreement. We show that Mg is enhanced with respect to Fe in the inner disk of one of the three galaxies studied, the Sombrero. [Mg/Fe] there is larger than in the rest of the bulge. The large values of Mg/Fe in the central disk are consistent with the centres of other early-type galaxies, and not with large disks, like the disk of our Galaxy, where [Mg/Fe] is approximately 0. We confirm with this observation a recent result of Worthey (1998) that Mg/Fe is determined by the central kinetic energy, or escape velocity, of the stars, only, and not by the formation time scale of the stars. A stellar population analysis using the models of Vazdekis et al. (1996) shows that our observed H gamma agrees well with what is predicted based on the other lines. Using the line strength of the Ca II IR triplet as an indicator of the abundance of Ca, we find that Ca follows Fe, and not Mg, in these galaxies. This is peculiar, given the fact that Ca is an alpha-element. Finally, by combining the results of this paper with those of Vazdekis et al. (1997) we find that the line strength gradients in the three galaxies are primarily caused by variations in metallicity.Comment: 23 pages, Latex, includes mn.sty, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ