A new geometrical method for 3D evaluation of non-rigid registration methods for radiotherapy in prostate cancer

Three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy aims at delivering a high dose of radiation to the tumour, while sparing the surrounding normal tissue to a maximum extent. Image registration is an essential tool for monitoring radiation therapies, since allows morphological comparisons in presence of anatomic variations. The evaluation of non-rigid registration methods is very complicated owe to the absence of a known pointwise correspondence. The use of analysis of variations in target volume delineations has been proposed in the past for the evaluation of non-rigid registration methods. Delineation of the target volume is usually accomplished by outlining the contour of the volume in each separate tomographic slice. In the studies of reference, the 3D surface is rendered from the contours by means of a Delauney triangulation. This geometrical method only works correctly for convex structures. However the volumes involved on pelvic anatomy, such as bladder or prostate including the seminal vesicles, have relevant concavities that introduce a huge error in the evaluation. A new geometrical method for the evaluation of convex-concave target volumes delineation is proposed

MicroBlaze en sistemas embebidos para aplicaciones criptográficas

En este trabajo se presenta un estudio sobre el “Soft Core Processor” MicroBlaze como microprocesador en sistemas embebidos para aplicaciones que involucran algoritmos de criptografía. Se analiza el rendimiento alcanzado para un conjunto representativo de los algoritmos simétricos más empleados: DES, 3DES, IDEA, BLOWFISH y AES. Se proponen diferentes arquitecturas del sistema que aprovechen mejor los recursos internos del microprocesador. Se estudia la mejora de rendimiento asociada con cada variación de la arquitectura interna, y se compara con la integración en el sistema de un core de cifrado específico, implementado en el hardware reconfigurable. Los resultados obtenidos permiten concluir que MicroBlaze puede ser considerado un serio candidato para este tipo de aplicaciones.Trabajo financiado por los proyectos 07T/0052/2003-3 de la Consejería de Educación de la CAM y TIC2001-2688-C03-03 del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología de España

Rapid thermal annealing behavior of amorphous SiC layers deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasma

The archival version of this work was published in Journal of the electrochemical society 143.1 (1996): 271-277Hydrogenated amorphous silicon carbide, a‐SiC:H, has been deposited by electron cyclotron resonance plasmas. Operating in methane excess (Formula flow ratios between 2 and 4) and at high enough microwave powers, the deposited SiC films are close to stoichiometric. In these SiC layers, only small traces of the Formula and Formula stretching bands can be detected. Rapid thermal annealing leads to nearly complete dehydrogenation of the SiC layers deposited under these conditions as deduced from ellipsometric and infrared spectroscopy

Associations between sedentary time, physical activity and bone health among older people using compositional data analysis

Introduction : Aging is associated with a progressive decrease in bone mass (BM), and being physical active is one of the main strategies to combat this continuous loss. Nonetheless, because daily time is limited, time spent on each movement behavior is co-dependent. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between BM and movement behaviors in elderly people using compositional data analysis. Methods : We analyzed 871 older people [395 men (76.9 +/- 5.3y) and 476 women (76.7 +/- 4.7y)]. Time spent in sedentary behavior (SB), light physical activity (LPA) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA), was assessed using accelerometry. BM was determined by bone densitometry (DXA). The sample was divided according to sex and bone health indicators. Results : The combined effect of all movement behaviors (PA and SB) was significantly associated with whole body, leg and femoral region BM in the whole sample (p<0.05), with leg and pelvic BM (p<0.05) in men and, with whole body, arm and leg BM (p<0.05) in women. In men, arm and pelvic BM were negatively associated with SB and whole body, pelvic and leg BM were positively associated with MVPA (p<0.05). In women, whole body and leg BM were positively associated with SB. Arm and whole body BM were positively associated and leg BM was negatively associated with LPA and arm BM was negatively associated with MVPA (p<0.05). Women without bone fractures spent less time in SB and more in LPA and MVPA than the subgroup with bone fractures. Conclusion : We identified that the positive effect of MVPA relative to the other behaviors on bone mass is the strongest overall effect in men. Furthermore, women might decrease bone fracture risk through PA increase and SB reduction, despite the fact that no clear benefits of PA for bone mass were found

Laboratorio Web para prototipado y verificación de sistemas hardware/software

Versión electrónica de la ponencia presentada en Jornadas de Computación Reconfigurable y Aplicaciones, celebrado en Madrid en 2003En este trabajo se presenta un laboratorio Web basado en plataformas reconfigurables. El usuario sólo necesita un ordenador personal con acceso a Web para implementar un prototipo de un sistema digital, siendo posible además verificar su funcionamiento. El entorno permite trabajar en remoto con las herramientas de síntesis e implementación de un diseño digital en un circuito FPGA desde una descripción VHDL. También es posible la compilación en remoto de código fuente descrito en C para ser ejecutado en el procesador embebido de la plataforma. El laboratorio se ha probado con éxito para complementar los contenidos teóricos de un curso de postgrado. Los experimentos incluyen la realización de sistemas especializados que involucran: el estudio de la interface de los componentes hardware específicos y el procesador con el que intercambian datos, la verificación de un prototipo de procesador implementado en FPGA y el desarrollo de módulos hardware para aplicaciones en robótica. En todos los casos el usuario consigue una implementación de un prototipo del sistema completamente operativo para su utilización directa en aplicaciones prácticas.Este trabajo ha sido parcialmente financiado por los proyectos TIC2000-0464 y TIC2001- 2688-C03-03 y del Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología

Effect of green Spanish-style Manzanilla packaging conditions on the prevalence of the putative probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus pentosus TOMC-LAB2

This work focuses on the persistence of the putative probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus pentosus TOMC-LAB2 on green Spanish-style Manzanilla olives according to different packaging conditions and storage temperatures. The lactic acid bacteria population decreased with time but the highest survival counts (and lowest yeasts) at the end of storage (8 months) were observed in plastic pouches under nitrogen atmosphere and glass jars with brine stored at 20°C. Molecular techniques showed a 100% presence of the putative probiotic bacteria in biofilms adhered to olive epidermis, while it was absent in PPB (plastic pouches with brine) and in olives stored at 7°C. No changes in NaCl, pH or combined acidity were observed during the storage except for a slight increase in titratable acidity at 20°C. The color of the fruits was stable but degraded at 20°C for olives in plastic pouches with brine.The research leading to these results has received funding from the EU's Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-2013) under grant agreement n°243471 (PROBIOLIVES) and the Junta de Andalucía (through financial support to group AGR-125). Thanks to JOLCA for supplying the fruits and the packages and to ASEMESA for its support. FNAL thanks the Spanish Government and CSIC for his Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral research contract, while VRG wishes to thank the AgriFood Campus of International Excellence (ceiA3), Bank of Santander, Spanish Government, and ‘Aloreña de Málaga’ Olive Manufacturing Association for her predoctoral fellowship (training program of PhD in companies).EUR 1,172 APC fee funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access PilotPeer reviewe

Fortification of table olive packing with the potential probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus pentosus TOMC-LAB2

© 2014 Rodríguez-Gómez, Romero-Gil, García-García, Garrido-Fernández and Arroyo-López. Dairy products are currently the main carriers of probiotic microorganisms to the human body. However, the development of new matrices for probiotic delivery is convenient for intolerant to milk (or its derivatives) and those requiring low-cholesterol diet consumers. The present work focused on the fortification of previously fermented green Spanish style olives with the autochthonous putative probiotic bacteria Lactobacillus pentosus TOMC-LAB2. The fortification was carried out by inoculating the bacteria into the packing brines using Manzanilla fruits from three different processes: (i) spontaneously fermented (F1), (ii) fermented using L. pentosus TOMC-LAB2 as starter (F2), and (iii) spontaneously fermented and then thermally treated (F3). Data showed that all inoculated treatments had higher population levels (5.49, 4.41, and 6.77 log10 cfu/cm2) than their respective controls (1.66, 4.33, and 0.0 log10 cfu/cm2, for F1, F2, and F3 treatments, respectively). The presence of L. pentosus TOMC-LAB2 on olive surface was confirmed by rep-PCR, with a recovery frequency at the end of the shelf life (200 days) of 52.6, 57.9, and 100.0% for F1, F2, and F3 treatments, respectively. Thus, results obtained in this work show the ability of this microorganism to survive under packing conditions for long period of times as well as to colonize the olive surface which is the food finally ingested by consumers. This opens the possibility for the development of a new and simply probiotic fortified olive product.he research leading to these results has received funding from the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7/2007-2013] under grant agreement no 243471 (PROBIOLIVES). We also thank the Spanish Government for financial support (projects AGL2009-07436/ALI, and AGL2010-15529/ALI partially financed by European regional development funds, ERDF), and the Junta de Andalucía (through financial support to group AGR-125). Thanks to JOLCA and ASEMESA for supplying the fruits and their own expertise for the development of this work. Francisco N. Arroyo-López wishes to express thanks for his Ramón y Cajal postdoctoral research contract (Spanish government).Peer Reviewe

A new method for quantitative evaluation of target volume variations in radiotherapy planning

A new method for three-dimensional quantitative evaluation of target volume delineation is presented. It is composed by a new 3D reconstruction method called Origami, based on the combination of two bidimensional analysis of the volume of each organ instead of one 3D analysis, and a 3D description of the error distribution in the space. The Origami method avoid external errors introduced by a 3D rendering and has shown to work correctly in both convex and convex-concave volumes, accurately fitting the contours of the planning study. Its performance has been evaluated comparing it with the Convex Hull algorithm using Delaunay triangulation, resulting in a much more adjusted evaluation. Moreover, Origami computes thousands of control points in less than one second in a common PC

Extracción Automática de la Línea Central de Estructuras Tubulares: Implementación Matricial

Se propone una nueva implementación matricial de un algoritmo para la extracción automática de la línea central de estructuras tubulares. El algoritmo seleccionado calcula la línea central de estructuras complejas sin la necesidad de interacción con el usuario. En el trabajo se explica detalladamente cómo llevar a cabo la implementación matricial utilizando el lenguaje de computación de Matlab. La implementación matricial permite el cálculo de la línea central en pocos segundos, mejorando en varios grados de magnitud la implementación disponible en ITK

Estación de trabajo para registro 3D y fusión de imágenes para la planificación de radioterapia

Este trabajo presenta una estación de trabajo para registro tridimensional y fusión de imágenes orientada a la ayuda en la planificación y monitorización de terapias de radiación externa. El concepto de radioterapia adaptativa propone la realización de una planificación del tratamiento en cada una de las sesiones a las que acude el paciente, lo que supondría un decremento importante en la radiación que afecta a los tejidos sanos circundantes al tumor y por tanto, una mejora significativa en la evolución de estos pacientes. Para reducir el tiempo que conlleva la delineación manual de los volúmenes de interés en la realización de una nueva planificación en cada sesión, la herramienta en la que se debe basar la radioterapia adaptativa es el registro tridimensional deformable de estudios CT para radioterapia. El prototipo que se presenta en este artículo permite el registro de imágenes DICOM mediante algoritmos no rígidos, su visualización, la comparación cualitativa de los resultados mediante fusión de imágenes, selección de regiones de interés en las imágenes y el almacenamiento de resultados en formato DICOM, visualizables por cualquier otro lector. El empleo de esta estación de trabajo, en combinación con algoritmos de reconstrucción tridimensional y segmentación automática desarrollados dentro del grupo, supone una gran ayuda en los procesos previos de la planificación radioterápica