Integrated Circuitry to Detect Slippage Inspired by Human Skin and Artificial Retinas

This paper presents a bioinspired integrated tactile coprocessor that is able to generate a warning in the case of slippage via the data provided by a tactile sensor. Some implementations use different layers of piezoresistive and piezoelectric materials to build upon the raw sensor and obtain the static (pressure) as well as the dynamic (slippage) information. In this paper, a simple raw sensor is used, and a circuitry is implemented, which is able to extract the dynamic information from a single piezoresistive layer. The circuitry was inspired by structures found in human skin and retina, as they are biological systems made up of a dense network of receptors. It is largely based on an artificial retina , which is able to detect motion by using relatively simple spatial temporal dynamics. The circuitry was adapted to respond in the bandwidth of microvibrations produced by early slippage, resembling human skin. Experimental measurements from a chip implemented in a 0.35-mum four-metal two-poly standard CMOS process are presented to show both the performance of the building blocks included in each processing node and the operation of the whole system as a detector of early slippage.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad TEC2006-12376-C02-01Gobierno de España TEC2006- 1572

Integrated circuit interface for artificial skins

Artificial sensitive skins are intended to emulate the human skin to improve the skills of robots and machinery in complex unstructured environments. They are basically smart arrays of pressure sensors. As in the case of artificial retinas, one problem to solve is the management of the huge amount of information that such arrays provide, especially if this information should be used by a central processing unit to implement some control algorithms. An approach to manage such information is to increment the signal processing performed close to the sensor in order to extract the useful information and reduce the errors caused by long wires. This paper proposes the use of voltage to frequency converters to implement a quite straightforward analog to digital conversion as front end interface to digital circuitry in a smart tactile sensor. The circuitry commonly implemented to read out the information from a piezoresistive tactile sensor can be modified to turn it into an array of voltage to frequency converters. This is carried out in this paper, where the feasibility of the idea is shown through simulations and its performance is discussed.Gobierno de España TEC2006-12376-C02-01, TEC2006-1572

Tactile on-chip pre-processing with techniques from artificial retinas

The interest in tactile sensors is increasing as their use in complex unstructured environments is demanded, like in tele-presence, minimal invasive surgery, robotics etc. The matrix of pressure data these devices provide can be managed with many image processing algorithms to extract the required information. However, as in the case of vision chips or artificial retinas, problems arise when the array size and the computation complexity increase. Having a look to the skin, the information collected by every mechanoreceptor is not carried to the brain for its processing, but some complex pre-processing is performed to fit the limited throughput of the nervous system. This is specially important for high bandwidth demanding tasks. Experimental works report that neural response of skin mechanoreceptors encodes the change in local shape from an offset level rather than the absolute force or pressure distributions. This is also the behavior of the retina, which implements a spatio-temporal averaging. We propose the same strategy in tactile preprocessing, and we show preliminary results when it faces the detection of the slip, which involves fast real-time processing.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2003 - 09817-C0

Tactile retina for slip detection

The interest in tactile sensors is increasing as their use in complex unstructured environments is demanded, like in telepresence, minimal invasive surgery, robotics etc. The array of pressure data provided by these devices can be treated with different image processing algorithms to extract the required information. However, as in the case of vision chips or artificial retinas, problems arise when the array size and the computation complexity increase. Having a look at the skin, the information collected by every mechanoreceptor is not sent to the brain for its processing, but some complex pre-processing is performed to fit the limited throughput of the nervous system. This is specially important for high bandwidth demanding tasks. Experimental works report that neural response of skin mechanoreceptors encodes the change in local shape from an offset level rather than the absolute force or pressure distributions. Something similar happens in the retina, which implements a spatio-temporal averaging. We propose the same strategy in tactile preprocessing, and we show preliminary results illustrated for the case of slip detection, which is certainly demanding in computing requirements.Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología TIC2003- 09817-C0

UPRmt activation improves pathological alterations in cellular models of mitochondrial diseases

Background: Mitochondrial diseases represent one of the most common groups of genetic diseases. With a prevalence greater than 1 in 5000 adults, such diseases still lack effective treatment. Current therapies are purely palliative and, in most cases, insufficient. Novel approaches to compensate and, if possible, revert mitochondrial dysfunction must be developed. Results: In this study, we tackled the issue using as a model fibroblasts from a patient bearing a mutation in the GFM1 gene, which is involved in mitochondrial protein synthesis. Mutant GFM1 fibroblasts could not survive in galactose restrictive medium for more than 3 days, making them the perfect screening platform to test several compounds. Tetracycline enabled mutant GFM1 fibroblasts survival under nutritional stress. Here we demonstrate that tetracycline upregulates the mitochondrial Unfolded Protein Response (UPR), a compensatory pathway regulating mitochondrial proteostasis. We additionally report that activation of UPR improves mutant GFM1 cellular bioenergetics and partially restores mitochondrial protein expression. Conclusions: Overall, we provide compelling evidence to propose the activation of intrinsic cellular compensatory mechanisms as promising therapeutic strategy for mitochondrial diseases.This work was supported by FIS PI16/00786 (2016) and FIS PI19/00377 (2019) grants, the Ministerio de Sanidad, Spain and the Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER Unión Europea), Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. This activity has been co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and by the Regional Ministry of Economic Transformation, Industry, Knowledge and Universities of the Junta de Andalucía, within the framework of the ERDF Andalusia operational program 2014–2020 Thematic objective "01—Reinforcement of research, technological development and innovation" through the reference research project CTS-5725 and PY18-850

Thymidylate synthase gene variants as predictors of clinical response and toxicity to fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy for colorectal cancer

Abstract Background: Fluoropyrimidines form the chemotherapy backbone of advanced and metastatic colorectal cancer (CRC). These drugs are frequently associated with toxicity events that result in dose adjustments and even suspension of the treatment. The thymidylate synthase (TYMS) gene is a potential marker of response and toxicity to fluoropyirimidines as this enzyme is the molecular target of these drugs. Our aim was to assess the association between variants of TYMS with response and toxicity to fluoropyrimidines in patients with CRC in independent retrospective and prospective studies. Methods: Variants namely rs45445694, rs183205964, rs2853542 and rs151264360 of TYMS were genotyped in 105 CRC patients and were evaluated to define their association with clinical response and toxicity to fluoropyrimidines. Additionally, the relationship between genotypes and tumor gene expression was analyzed by quantitative polymerase chain reaction. Results: The 2R/2R (rs45445694) was associated with clinical response (p = 0.05, odds ratio (OR) = 3.45) and severe toxicity (p = 0.0014, OR = 5.21, from pooled data). Expression analysis in tumor tissues suggested a correlation between the 2R/2R genotype and low TYMS expression. Conclusions: The allele 2R (rs45445694) predicts severe toxicity and objective response in advanced CRC patients. In addition, the alleles G(rs2853542) and 6bp-(rs151264360) are independent predictors of response failure to chemotherapy. This is the first study made on a Latin American population that points out TYMS gene variants have predictive values for response and toxicity in patients with CRC treated with fluoropyrimidine-based chemotherapy

Finanzas prácticas para micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas

Este libro está orientado a los líderes y directores de micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas. Considerando los retos en términos financieros que estas empresas enfrentan en su día a día, se presenta el siguiente contenido con el objetivo de brindar herramientas prácticas y necesariamente apegadas a la realidad de este tipo de empresas.El libro tiene como objetivo que los lectores puedan entender y utilizar en su gestión los conceptos básicos de las finanzas, para lo cual el libro despliega cinco temas que se consideran importantes para una gestión práctica de las finanzas, temas como: el tiempo y las matemáticas que presenta la teoría de valor del dinero en el tiempo y el concepto de intereses simple y compuesto. El riesgo y la relación directa que tiene con la rentabilidad de cada negocio a través del modelo CAPM, un formato básico para la evaluación de proyectos, considerando el día a día de estas empresas en el abordaje de los diferentes proyectos que deben evaluar. Se mencionan indicadores de valor, su descripción y para qué sirven, con el fin de que el empresario pueda enfocar su gestión a través de un cuadro de mando, y por último se expone lo relacionado con el tema de gestión de riesgos. Es así como, el propósito general de este libro es entregar herramientas de gestión donde se describen las teorías y se entregan ejemplos enfocados en la realidad, para que el empresario pueda asociar los conceptos con la vida diaria de su compañía y encuentre su utilidad.Al finalizar este libro se espera que los lectores tengan herramientas adicionales para desarrollar una mejor gestión financiera en micro, pequeñas y medianas empresas, teniendo en cuenta ejercicios y casos reales

El tiempo y las matemáticas

A lo largo de la historia el hombre ha empleado diferentes objetos: metales o elementos como representación de dinero o moneda, con el fin de facilitar los intercambios que demandan la satisfacción de sus necesidades básicas. Inicialmente se presentaban incipientes formas de intercambio (trueque), hasta hoy donde se propugna por un menor uso del dinero en su forma física a cambio de utilizar diferentes medios de pagos electrónicos

El costo de capital y su aplicación en la pequeña y mediana empresa

Normalmente, cuando un empresario decide invertir su dinero en determinado negocio, lo hace teniendo una expectativa de obtener de éste unos recursos superiores a lo comprometido. La diferencia entre lo primero y lo segundo es lo que se conoce como rentabilidad. Sin embargo, una de las cuestiones a resolver a la hora evaluar un negocio tiene que ver precisamente con cuál es la rentabilidad esperada del mismo, teniendo en cuenta que ésta no es un valor que se establece por deseo del inversionista, sino que debe responder al riesgo que representa la alternativa y que se relaciona con la probabilidad de que las expectativas de ganancia se materialicen o que, desafortunadamente, se incurra en una pérdida

Valoración de proyectos

Un proyecto se refiere al esfuerzo que se imprime en el planteamiento de un objetivo y las tareas interrelacionadas que se deben desarrollar para lograrlo. En este proceso intervienen unos recursos que pueden ser humanos, materiales, equipos, instalaciones y cualquier otro necesario para la operación. Un proyecto puede ser una modernización de una fábrica o un negocio, la introducción de un nuevo producto, la apertura de una sede nueva o cualquier proceso sistemático que nos permita llegar al planteamiento y ejecución de actividades para conseguir un fin