Improving the Performance of Low Voltage Networks by an Optimized Unbalance Operation of Three-Phase Distributed Generators

This work focuses on using the full potential of PV inverters in order to improve the efficiency of low voltage networks. More specifically, the independent per-phase control capability of PV three-phase four-wire inverters, which are able to inject different active and reactive powers in each phase, in order to reduce the system phase unbalance is considered. This new operational procedure is analyzed by raising an optimization problem which uses a very accurate modelling of European low voltage networks. The paper includes a comprehensive quantitative comparison of the proposed strategy with two state-of-the-art methodologies to highlight the obtained benefits. The achieved results evidence that the proposed independent per-phase control of three-phase PV inverters improves considerably the network performance contributing to increase the penetration of renewable energy sources.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2017-84813-R, ENE2014-54115-

Accurate Assessment of Decoupled OLTC Transformers to Optimize the Operation of Low-Voltage Networks

Voltage control in active distribution networks must adapt to the unbalanced nature of most of these systems, and this requirement becomes even more apparent at low voltage levels. The use of transformers with on-load tap changers is gaining popularity, and those that allow different tap positions for each of the three phases of the transformer are the most promising. This work tackles the exact approach to the voltage optimization problem of active low-voltage networks when transformers with on-load tap changers are available. A very rigorous approach to the electrical model of all the involved components is used, and common approaches proposed in the literature are avoided. The main aim of the paper is twofold: to demonstrate the importance of being very rigorous in the electrical modeling of all the components to operate in a secure and effective way and to show the greater effectiveness of the decoupled on-load tap changer over the usual on-load tap changer in the voltage regulation problem. A low-voltage benchmark network under different load and distributed generation scenarios is tested with the proposed exact optimal solution to demonstrate its feasibility.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2014-54115-RMinisterio de Economía y Competitividad ENE2017-84813-RUnión Europea (FEDER Interconecta) CDTI PASTORAITC- 2018110

Ameboma simulating sigmoid colon carcinoma

A 14-year-old woman who developed diarrhea with blood and abdominal pain located in the lower left quadrant, intermittent, colic type. Unimportant background. She was found hypotensive, complaining, with increased bowel sounds, pain to palpation on the left flank and left iliac fossa. The imaging study suggested a sigmoid colon neoplasm that infiltrated the mesentery and free cavity liquid. Colonoscopy showed a proliferative, stenosing lesion and the surface with multiple ulcerations with fibrin attached. As pain increased, she underwent surgery as an acute abdomen. She had a sigmoidectomy plus end-to-end coloncolonic anastomosis. The histopathological study was consistent with sigmoid colon ameboma, with the presence of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites.Mujer de 14 años de edad, que presentó diarrea con sangre y dolor abdominal localizado en el cuadrante inferior izquierdo, intermitente, tipo cólico. Antecedentes sin importancia. Se le halló hipotensa, quejumbrosa, con ruidos hidroaéreos aumentados, dolor a la palpación en el flanco izquierdo y fosa iliaca izquierda. El estudio de imágenes sugirió una neoplasia de colon sigmoides que infiltraba el mesenterio adyacente y liquido libre en cavidad. La colonoscopia evidenció una lesión proliferativa, estenosante y la superficie con múltiples ulceraciones con fibrina adherida. Al incrementarse el dolor, fue operada como abdomen agudo. Se le realizó una sigmoidectomía más anastomosis colo-colónica termino-terminal. El estudio histopatológico fue consistente con ameboma de colon sigmoides, con la presencia de trofozoitos de Entamoeba histolytica

Fear Detection in Multimodal affective computing: Physiological Signals versus Catecholamine Concentration

Affective computing through physiological signals monitoring is currently a hot topic in the scientific literature, but also in the industry. Many wearable devices are being developed for health or wellness tracking during daily life or sports activity. Likewise, other applications are being proposed for the early detection of risk situations involving sexual or violent aggressions, with the identification of panic or fear emotions. The use of other sources of information, such as video or audio signals will make multimodal affective computing a more powerful tool for emotion classification, improving the detection capability. There are other biological elements that have not been explored yet and that could provide additional information to better disentangle negative emotions, such as fear or panic. Catecholamines are hormones produced by the adrenal glands, two small glands located above the kidneys. These hormones are released in the body in response to physical or emotional stress. The main catecholamines, namely adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine have been analysed, as well as four physiological variables: skin temperature, electrodermal activity, blood volume pulse (to calculate heart rate activity. i.e., beats per minute) and respiration rate. This work presents a comparison of the results provided by the analysis of physiological signals in reference to catecholamine, from an experimental task with 21 female volunteers receiving audiovisual stimuli through an immersive environment in virtual reality. Artificial intelligence algorithms for fear classification with physiological variables and plasma catecholamine concentration levels have been proposed and tested. The best results have been obtained with the features extracted from the physiological variables. Adding catecholamine’s maximum variation during the five minutes after the video clip visualization, as well as adding the five measurements (1-min interval) of these levels, are not providing better performance in the classifiers.This research has been supported by the Madrid Governement (Comunidad de Madrid, Spain) under the ARTEMISA-UC3M-CM research project (reference 2020/00048/001), the EMPATIACM research project (reference Y2018/TCS-5046) and the Multiannual Agreement with UC3M in the line of Excellence of University Professors (EPUC3M26), and in the context of the V PRICIT (Regional Programme of Research and Technological Innovation)

Manejo del paciente con cuerpo extraño en vías aérea y digestiva

Introduction: the penetration of foreign bodies into airway and digestive tracts results in serious problems, leading even to death. Objective: to determine the management of patients with foreign bodies into the airway and digestive tracts. Material and method: a descriptive, cross-sectional and intervention research in patients attending to the emergency room at “Abel Santamaria Cuadrado” University Hospital was carried out from 2010 to 2011. The target group and the sample were comprised of 773 patients with suspect or diagnosis of foreign bodies into the airway-digestive tracts. Biostatistics and descriptive methods along with X2 test to 95% of confidence were the methods applied. Results: 72,6% of the cases were considered of emergencies, 75,5% confirmed as having foreign bodies, ages from 0-15 prevailed (28,8%), male sex (48,5%), most of the foreign bodies were located into the hypo-pharynx (39%), where most of patients (26%) belonged to “Hermanos Cruz” University outpatient clinic. Out of the 154 esophagoscopies performed only 110 were positive. An educational strategy was designed to the Primary Health Care Professionals. Conclusions: the management of foreign bodies into the airway and digestive tracts by primary health care professionals is at present a common fact, mainly in little children, which constitutes an important health problem; in consequence an educational strategy was designed to its management in order to diminish the morbidity or mortality rates of these patients.Introducción: La penetración de un cuerpo extraño en las vías aéreo-digestivas trae consigo problemas serios, llegando incluso hasta la muerte. Objetivo: Diseñar una estrategia educativa para el manejo del paciente con cuerpo extraño en vías aéreas y digestivas. Método: Se realizó una investigación descriptiva, transversal y de intervención en pacientes vistos en el cuerpo de guardia del Hospital  “Abel Santamaría Cuadrado”  en el período 2010-2011. El universo y la muestra estuvieron conformados por los 773 pacientes con sospecha o diagnóstico de cuerpos extraños en vías aéreo-digestivas. Se aplicaron métodos bio-estadísticos descriptivos, así como la prueba de X2 al 95 % de certeza. Resultados: El 72,6 % de los casos fueron considerados urgencias, y el 75,5 % fueron confirmados con cuerpos extraños, predominando el grupo de 0-15 años (28,8 %), el sexo masculino (48,5%), localizados en hipofaringe (39 %), y los pertenecientes al Policlínico Hermanos Cruz. (26%). De las 154 esofagoscopias  realizadas, solo 110 fueron positivas. Se diseño una estrategia de intervención educativa dirigida a profesionales de la atención primaria de salud. Conclusiones: Se concluye que la entrada de cuerpos extraños en las vías aéreas es un hecho común actualmente, sobre todo en menores de edad, lo que constituye un problema de salud, que puede ser letal y que debe prevenirse

Management of patients with foreign bodies into the airway and digestive tracts

Introducción: La penetración de un cuerpo extraño en las vías aéreo-digestivas trae consigo problemas serios, llegando incluso hasta la muerte. Objetivo: Diseñar una estrategia educativa para el manejo del paciente con cuerpo extraño en vías aéreas y digestivas. Método: Se realizó una investigación descriptiva, transversal y de intervención en pacientes vistos en el cuerpo de guardia del Hospital  “Abel Santamaría Cuadrado”  en el período 2010-2011. El universo y la muestra estuvieron conformados por los 773 pacientes con sospecha o diagnóstico de cuerpos extraños en vías aéreo-digestivas. Se aplicaron métodos bio-estadísticos descriptivos, así como la prueba de X2 al 95 % de certeza. Resultados: El 72,6 % de los casos fueron considerados urgencias, y el 75,5 % fueron confirmados con cuerpos extraños, predominando el grupo de 0-15 años (28,8 %), el sexo masculino (48,5%), localizados en hipofaringe (39 %), y los pertenecientes al Policlínico Hermanos Cruz. (26%). De las 154 esofagoscopias  realizadas, solo 110 fueron positivas. Se diseño una estrategia de intervención educativa dirigida a profesionales de la atención primaria de salud. Conclusiones: Se concluye que la entrada de cuerpos extraños en las vías aéreas es un hecho común actualmente, sobre todo en menores de edad, lo que constituye un problema de salud, que puede ser letal y que debe prevenirse.Introduction: the penetration of foreign bodies into airway and digestive tracts results in serious problems, leading even to death. Objective: to determine the management of patients with foreign bodies into the airway and digestive tracts. Material and method: a descriptive, cross-sectional and intervention research in patients attending to the emergency room at “Abel Santamaria Cuadrado” University Hospital was carried out from 2010 to 2011. The target group and the sample were comprised of 773 patients with suspect or diagnosis of foreign bodies into the airway-digestive tracts. Biostatistics and descriptive methods along with X2 test to 95% of confidence were the methods applied. Results: 72,6% of the cases were considered of emergencies, 75,5% confirmed as having foreign bodies, ages from 0-15 prevailed (28,8%), male sex (48,5%), most of the foreign bodies were located into the hypo-pharynx (39%), where most of patients (26%) belonged to “Hermanos Cruz” University outpatient clinic. Out of the 154 esophagoscopies performed only 110 were positive. An educational strategy was designed to the Primary Health Care Professionals. Conclusions: the management of foreign bodies into the airway and digestive tracts by primary health care professionals is at present a common fact, mainly in little children, which constitutes an important health problem; in consequence an educational strategy was designed to its management in order to diminish the morbidity or mortality rates of these patients

Downregulation of epidermal growth factor receptor in hepatocellular carcinoma facilitates transforming growth factor-β-induced epithelial to amoeboid transition

The Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR) and the Transforming Growth Factor-beta (TGF-β) are key regulators of hepatocarcinogenesis. Targeting EGFR was proposed as a promising therapy; however, poor success was obtained in human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) clinical trials. Here, we describe how EGFR is frequently downregulated in HCC patients while TGF-β is upregulated. Using 2D/3D cellular models, we show that after EGFR loss, TGF-β is more efficient in its pro-migratory and invasive effects, inducing epithelial to amoeboid transition. EGFR knock-down promotes loss of cell-cell and cell-to-matrix adhesion, favouring TGF-β-induced actomyosin contractility and acquisition of an amoeboid migratory phenotype. Moreover, TGF-β upregulates RHOC and CDC42 after EGFR silencing, promoting Myosin II in amoeboid cells. Importantly, low EGFR combined with high TGFB1 or RHOC/CDC42 levels confer poor patient prognosis. In conclusion, this work reveals a new tumour suppressor function for EGFR counteracting TGF-β-mediated epithelial to amoeboid transitions in HCC, supporting a rational for targeting the TGF-β pathway in patients with low EGFR expression. Our work also highlights the relevance of epithelial to amoeboid transition in human tumours and the need to better target this process in the clinic

2-[18F]FDG PET/CT as a Predictor of Microvascular Invasion and High Histological Grade in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) generally presents a low avidity for 2-deoxy-2-[18F]fluoro-d-glucose (FDG) in PET/CT although an increased FDG uptake seems to relate to more aggressive biological factors. To define the prognostic value of PET/CT with FDG in patients with an HCC scheduled for a tumor resection, forty-one patients were prospectively studied. The histological factors of a poor prognosis were determined and FDG uptake in the HCC lesions was analyzed semi-quantitatively (lean body mass-corrected standardized uptake value (SUL) and tumor-to-liver ratio (TLR) at different time points). The PET metabolic parameters were related to the histological characteristics of the resected tumors and to the evolution of patients. Microvascular invasion (MVI) and a poor grade of differentiation were significantly related to a worse prognosis. The SULpeak of the lesion 60 min post-FDG injection was the best parameter to predict MVI while the SULpeak of the TLR at 60 min was better for a poor differentiation. Moreover, the latter parameter was also the best preoperative variable available to predict any of these two histological factors. Patients with an increased TLRpeak60 presented a significantly higher incidence of poor prognostic factors than the rest (75% vs. 28.6%, p = 0.005) and a significantly higher incidence of recurrence at 12 months (38% vs. 0%, p = 0.014). Therefore, a semi-quantitative analysis of certain metabolic parameters on PET/CT can help identify, preoperatively, patients with histological factors of a poor prognosis, allowing an adjustment of the therapeutic strategy for those patients with a higher risk of an early recurrence