The Feminine Section in the vaccination campaigns of the first Francoism: the case of the province of Valencia (1941-1958)

El objetivo del trabajo es analizar la participación de las enfermeras sociales y las divulgadoras rurales de Sección Femenina (S.F.) en las campañas de vacunación del primer franquismo. Material y Métodos: Como principal fuente documental se han utilizado los legajos depositados en el Archivo del Reino de Valencia (A.R.V.), y en concreto los correspondientes a la Sección Femenina Inventario (S.F.I.) (1940-1977). Resultados: las actividades de vacunación en las que participó S.F. fueron poco uniformes y constantes, decrecieron a medida que transcurrían los años, y mostraron importantes desigualdades territoriales. En el intento por superar las resistencias de la población a vacunarse, las enfermeras sociales y divulgadoras rurales desarrollaron actividades de educación sanitaria que estuvieron informadas por el paternalismo asistencial y el adoctrinamiento ideológico de S.F. Conclusiones: el ejemplo de las campañas de vacunación ha puesto de manifiesto las limitaciones y la dificultades que encontró S.F. para alcanzar en la provincia de Valencia sus objetivos socio-sanitarios.The aim of this study was to analyse the participation of health visitors and rural educators belonging to the Women’s Section of the Falange (WS) in vaccination campaigns during the first stage of the Franco regime. Material and Methods: The main source of information consulted was the collection of files deposited in the Archives of the Kingdom of Valencia (Spanish initials: A.R.V), and more specifically, those corresponding to the Inventory of the Women’s Section (1940-1977). Results: the participation of the WS in vaccination campaigns was uneven and sporadic, diminished over the years and presented major regional variations. In an attempt to overcome the population’s resistance to vaccination, health visitors and rural educators implemented health education activities, which were informed by the welfare paternalism and ideological indoctrination of the WS. Conclusions: the example of these vaccination campaigns highlights the limitations and difficulties that the WS encountered in achieving their social and health goals in the province of Valencia

Monitoring and Prevention the Smart Cities

Nowadays, the intensive use of Technology Information (TI) provide solutions to problems of the high population density, energy conservation and cities management. This produces a newest concept of the city, Smart City. But the inclusion of TI in the city brings associated new problems, specifically the generation of electromagnetic fields from the available and new technological infrastructures installed in the city that did not exist before. This new scenario produces a negative effect on a particular group of the society, as are the group of persons with electromagnetic hypersensitivity pathology. In this work we propose a system that would allow you to detect and prevent the continuous exposure to such electromagnetic fields, without the need to include more devices or infrastructure which would only worsen these effects. Through the use of the architecture itself and Smart City services, it is possible to infer the necessary knowledge to know the situation of the EMF radiation and thus allow users to avoid the areas of greatest conflict. This knowledge, not only allows us to get EMF current map of the city, but also allows you to generate predictions and detect future risk situations.This work has been performed within project Smart University funded from the Vice President office for Information Technology at the University of Alicante

Smart Sentinel: Monitoring and Prevention System in the Smart Cities

Today, faced with the constant rise of the Smart cities around the world, there is an exponential increase of the use and deployment of information technologies in the cities. The intensive use of Information Technology (IT) in these ecosystems facilitates and improves the quality of life of citizens, but in these digital communities coexist individuals whose health is affected developing or increasing diseases such as electromagnetic hypersensitivity. In this paper we present a monitoring, detection and prevention system to help this group, through which it is reported the rates of electromagnetic radiation in certain areas, based on the information that the own Smart City gives us. This work provides a perfect platform for the generation of predictive models for detection of future states of risk for humans.This work has been performed within project Smart University funded from the Vice President office for Information Technology at the University of Alicante

Conceptual Modelling of Complex Network Management Systems

Society, as we know it today, is completely dependent on computer networks, Internet and distributed systems, which place at our disposal the necessary services to perform our daily tasks. Moreover, and unconsciously, all services and distributed systems require network management systems. These systems allow us to, in general, maintain, manage, configure, scale, adapt, modify, edit, protect or improve the main distributed systems. Their role is secondary and is unknown and transparent to the users. They provide the necessary support to maintain the distributed systems whose services we use every day. If we don’t consider network management systems during the development stage of main distributed systems, then there could be serious consequences or even total failures in the development of the distributed systems. It is necessary, therefore, to consider the management of the systems within the design of distributed systems and systematize their conception to minimize the impact of the management of networks within the project of distributed systems. In this paper, we present a formalization method of the conceptual modelling for design of a network management system through the use of formal modelling tools, thus allowing from the definition of processes to identify those responsible for these. Finally we will propose a use case to design a conceptual model intrusion detection system in network.This work was performed as part of the Smart University Project financed by the University of Alicante

Conceptual Modelling of Complex Network Management Systems

Society, as we know it today, is completely dependent on computer networks, Internet and distributed systems, which place at our disposal the necessary services to perform our daily tasks. Moreover, and unconsciously, all services and distributed systems require network management systems. These systems allow us to, in general, maintain, manage, configure, scale, adapt, modify, edit, protect or improve the main distributed systems. Their role is secondary and is unknown and transparent to the users. They provide the necessary support to maintain the distributed systems whose services we use every day. If we don’t consider network management systems during the development stage of main distributed systems, then there could be serious consequences or even total failures in the development of the distributed systems. It is necessary, therefore, to consider the management of the systems within the design of distributed systems and systematize their conception to minimize the impact of the management of networks within the project of distributed systems. In this paper, we present a formalization method of the conceptual modelling for design of a network management system through the use of formal modelling tools, thus allowing from the definition of processes to identify those responsible for these. Finally we will propose a use case to design a conceptual model intrusion detection system in network.This work was performed as part of the Smart University Project financed by the University of Alicante

Gene Duplications in the Genomes of Staphylococci and Enterococci

Gene duplications are a feature of bacterial genomes. In the present work we analyze the extent of gene duplications in the genomes of three microorganisms that belong to the Firmicutes phylum and that are etiologic agents of several nosocomial infections: Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecium, and Enterococcus faecalis. In all three groups, there is an irregular distribution of duplications in the genomes of the strains analyzed. Whereas in some of the strains duplications are scarce, hundreds of duplications are present in others. In all three species, mobile DNA accounts for a large percentage of the duplicated genes: phage DNA in S. aureus, and plasmid DNA in the enterococci. Duplicates also include core genes. In all three species, a reduced group of genes is duplicated in all strains analyzed. Duplication of the deoC and rpmG genes is a hallmark of S. aureus genomes. Duplication of the gene encoding the PTS IIB subunit is detected in all enterococci genomes. In E. faecalis it is remarkable that the genomes of some strains encode duplicates of the prgB and prgU genes. They belong to the prgABCU cluster, which responds to the presence of the peptide pheromone cCF10 by expressing the surface adhesins PrgA, PrgB, and PrgC

Gene duplications in the E. coli genome: common themes among pathotypes

Background: Gene duplication underlies a significant proportion of gene functional diversity and genome complexity in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes. Although several reports in the literature described the duplication of specific genes in E. coli, a detailed analysis of the extent of gene duplications in this microorganism is needed. Results: The genomes of the E. coli enteroaggregative strain 042 and other pathogenic strains contain duplications of the gene that codes for the global regulator Hha. To determine whether the presence of additional copies of the hha gene correlates with the presence of other genes, we performed a comparative genomic analysis between E. coli strains with and without hha duplications. The results showed that strains harboring additional copies of the hha gene also encode the yeeR irmA (aec69) gene cluster, which, in turn, is also duplicated in strain 042 and several other strains. The identification of these duplications prompted us to obtain a global map of gene duplications, first in strain 042 and later in other E. coli genomes. Duplications in the genomes of the enteroaggregative strain 042, the uropathogenic strain CFT073 and the enterohemorrhagic strain O145:H28 have been identified by a BLASTp protein similarity search. This algorithm was also used to evaluate the distribution of the identified duplicates among the genomes of a set of 28 representative E. coli strains. Despite the high genomic diversity of E. coli strains, we identified several duplicates in the genomes of almost all studied pathogenic strains. Most duplicated genes have no known function. Transcriptomic analysis also showed that most of these duplications are regulated by the H-NS/Hha proteins. Conclusions: Several duplicated genes are widely distributed among pathogenic E. coli strains. In addition, some duplicated genes are present only in specific pathotypes, and others are strain specific. This gene duplication analysis shows novel relationships between E. coli pathotypes and suggests that newly identified genes that are duplicated in a high percentage of pathogenic E. coli isolates may play a role in virulence. Our study also shows a relationship between the duplication of genes encoding regulators and genes encoding their targets

Conceptualising IT Consulting Services: An Approach from IT-Business Alignment Models and Design Sciences

The constant integration of business and manufacturing processes is a difficult task that can be facilitated through IT consulting services. However, if these services do not adequately address the problems of alignment between IT and business, efficiency in integration can be seriously compromised. This article presents a methodology that systematises IT consulting services for the acquisition, incorporation, and integration of IT elements in an organisation in such a way that is aligned with the business and by contemplating its contribution to the value chain. The proposal is based on a set of rules, methods, guidelines, patterns, and artefacts that define a flow of action and implement a strategy that provides a consulting solution as a final result. Likewise, a method is proposed to evaluate the applied methodology and the solution obtained. For validation of the method, a set of business processes based on a case study applied in several Cuban companies related to the food sector has been defined to help adjust the parameters and corroborate the generalisation of the proposal. This research allows to ensure the alignment of business and IT to avoid the failure in the incorporation of IT to companies. It also analyzes and establishes the ideal artefacts for IT consulting and generates an IT consulting methodology that makes the analysis of consultants more robust in order to guarantee the success of incorporating IT into companies.This work has been supported by grant TIN2016-78103-C2-2-R and University of Alicante [GRE14-02 and SmartUniversity2017]

Metabolites involved in cellular communication among human cumulus-oocyte-complex and sperm during in vitro fertilization

Background: Fertilization is a key physiological process for the preservation of the species. Consequently, different mechanisms affecting the sperm and the oocyte have been developed to ensure a successful fertilization. Thus, sperm acrosome reaction is necessary for the egg coat penetration and sperm-oolema fusion. Several molecules are able to induce the sperm acrosome reaction; however, this process should be produced coordinately in time and in the space to allow the success of fertilization between gametes. The goal of this study was to analyze the metabolites secreted by cumulus-oocyte-complex (COC) to find out new components that could contribute to the induction of the human sperm acrosome reaction and other physiological processes at the time of gamete interaction and fertilization. Methods: For the metabolomic analysis, eighteen aliquots of medium were used in each group, containing: a) only COC before insemination and after 3 h of incubation; b) COC and capacitated spermatozoa after insemination and incubated for 16–20 hours; c) only capacitated sperm after 16–20 h in culture and d) only fertilization medium as control. Six patients undergoing assisted reproduction whose male partners provided normozoospermic samples were included in the study. Seventy-two COC were inseminated. Results: The metabolites identified were monoacylglycerol (MAG), lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) and phytosphingosine (PHS). Analysis by PCR and in silico of the gene expression strongly suggests that the cumulus cells contribute to the formation of the PHS and LPC. Conclusions: LPC and PHS are secreted by cumulus cells during in vitro fertilization and they could be involved in the induction of human acrosome reaction (AR). The identification of new molecules with a paracrine effect on oocytes, cumulus cells and spermatozoa will provide a better understanding of gamete interaction.This study was supported by grant GV/2009/097 from Department of Education, Generalitat Valenciana, Vicerrectorado de Investigación, University of Alicante, Alicante, Spain (Vigrob-137), the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad AGL2012-40180-C03-02 and Fundación Seneca (04542/GERM/06)

Inter-Rater Variability in the Evaluation of Lung Ultrasound in Videos Acquired from COVID-19 Patients

12 páginas, 7 figuras, 1 tablaLung ultrasound (LUS) allows for the detection of a series of manifestations of COVID-19, such as B-lines and consolidations. The objective of this work was to study the inter-rater reliability (IRR) when detecting signs associated with COVID-19 in the LUS, as well as the performance of the test in a longitudinal or transverse orientation. Thirty-three physicians with advanced experience in LUS independently evaluated ultrasound videos previously acquired using the ULTRACOV system on 20 patients with confirmed COVID-19. For each patient, 24 videos of 3 s were acquired (using 12 positions with the probe in longitudinal and transverse orientations). The physicians had no information about the patients or other previous evaluations. The score assigned to each acquisition followed the convention applied in previous studies. A substantial IRR was found in the cases of normal LUS (κ = 0.74), with only a fair IRR for the presence of individual B-lines (κ = 0.36) and for confluent B-lines occupying 50% (κ = 0.50). No statistically significant differences between the longitudinal and transverse scans were found. The IRR for LUS of COVID-19 patients may benefit from more standardized clinical protocols.This research was partially funded by CDTI (Spanish acronym: Centre for Industrial Tech- nological Development), funding number COI-20201153. Partially supported by the Google Cloud Research Credits program with the funding number GCP19980904, by the project RTI2018-099118- A-I00 founded by MCIU/AEI/FEDER UE and by the European Commission–NextGenerationEU, through CSIC’s Global Health Platform (PTI Salud Global)