Liquid systems Based on Tetra(n-butyl)phosphonium Acetate for the Non-dissolving Pretreatment of a Microcrystalline Cellulose (Avicel PH-101)

A non-dissolving pretreatment consisting in the direct contact of cellulose and the ionic liquid tetra(n-butyl)phosphonium acetate, or its fluid mixtures with other phosphonium ionic liquids or with molecular liquids such as ethanol or DMSO, causes a reduction in the crystallinity of the popular microcrystalline cellulose-type Avicel PH-101 under mild conditions. At the same time, the degree of polymerization and the thermal stability of the pretreated Avicel remain essentially unaltered with respect to the untreated Avicel. The diminution of the crystallinity has been related to the increase of the reactivity of the pretreated Avicel samples via analysis of the kinetics of their enzymatic hydrolysis. For selected samples, this improved reactivity has been confirmed through their effective carboxymethylation under a simplified and milder reaction procedureThis work was supported by Xunta de Galicia through project ED431B 2020/021, co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund. A.V.P. thanks the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, the Spanish Research State Agency, and the European Social Fund for a “Ramón y Cajal” contract (RYC-2017-22849)S

Influence of indirect ultrasonic vibration on the microstructure and mechanical behavior of Al-Si-Cu alloy

The influence of high intensity ultrasound (US) propagating through a steel mold on the microstructure and mechanical properties of die-cast AlSi9Cu3, for different levels of electric power and at different distances to the waveguide/mold interface. The influence of those parameters on the morphology of -Al and eutectic Si and on the volume of porosity were investigated and characterized. The morphological characterization revealed that the high intensity vibration not only promoted the formation of small -Al globular grains but also modify the eutectic silicon, as well as decreased the volume of porosity. Besides microstructure modification, US treatment improved the alloy mechanical properties, namely UTS and strain, which maximum values were 339 MPa and 2.9% respectively by comparison to the values obtained for castings produced without US vibration. A mechanism of eutectic Si modification based on theoretical-experimental analysis is proposedFCT - Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologi

Upper Miocene deposits at the southern margin of the Guadalquivir Foreland Basin (central Betic Cordillera, S. Spain). Implications for the closure timing of the Atlantic-Mediterranean connections

Acknowledgments We acknowledge the comments and suggestions made by two re- viewers, which have improved the quality of the paper. We thank Jodi Eckart for her help correcting the English text. Dr Sánchez-Almazo helped with the SEM analyses and photographs of foraminifers. This paper has been supported by the research project PGC2018–099391-B- 100 of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Competitividad, and the research group RMN190 of the Junta de Andalucía.Mixed siliciclastic-carbonate deposits accumulated in several satellite sub-basins at the southern margin of the Guadalquivir Basin, the foreland basin of the Betic Cordillera (S. Spain). The prevailing coarse-grained sediments and deposition in shallow-water settings make it difficult to establish the precise age of the complete successions. For this reason, in previous studies, these deposits were attributed to the late Tortonian, although a Messinian age was not totally ruled out. The age of the upper Miocene deposits in the central part of the Guadalquivir Basin is here re-evaluated based on the analysis of several sections distributed in different areas: Antequera, Iznájar-Cuevas de San Marcos, Teba, and Bobadilla Estación. According to planktonic foraminifer and nannoplankton assemblages, the marine sedimentary infill of this sector of the southern margin of the Guadalquivir Basin is late Tortonian-early Messinian (late Miocene) in age. The occurrence of marine deposits characterized by the dominance of Globorotalia miotumida group, dextrally-coiled G. scitula, and the presence of G. margaritae, Globigerina multiloba, Discoaster quinqueramus, Amaurolithus primus, A. amplificus, and Reticulofenestra rotaria at the northern end of the Guadalhorce Corridor, the last active gateway in the Betic Cordillera connecting the Atlantic and the Mediterranean, indicates that it remained open until the early Messinian.Research project PGC2018–099391-B- 100 of the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y CompetitividadResearch group RMN190 of the Junta de Andalucí

Hormony tarczycy i otyłość: znana, lecz słabo rozpoznana relacja

Hormony tarczycy (thyroid hormones, TH) są zaangażowane w wiele różnych procesów biologicznych, wliczając rozwój układu nerwowego, regulację metabolizmu pośredniego oraz zużycie energii. Aktywnie uczestniczą w podstawowym zużyciu energii i termogenezie adaptacyjnej i z tego względu mogą mieć wpływ na masę ciała w przebiegu chorób tarczycy. Otyłość to niezakaźna, przewlekła, zapalna choroba metaboliczna, która implikuje dodatni bilans energetyczny. Tkanka tłuszczowa produkuje szereg hormonów i adipocytokin, takich jak leptyna, które mogą wpływać na stan tarczycy na różnych poziomach. Istnieją dowody na to, że dysfunkcja tarczycy może predysponować do otyłości i odwrotnie, istnieją dowody sugerujące, że otyłość powoduje zmiany dotyczące tarczycy. Celem tej pracy było opisanie związku między układem tarczycy a otyłością. Ponadto w pracy zaprezentowano hipotetyczny model podkreślający znaczenie obwodowej dejodynacji hormonów tarczycy i jego rolę w ustanowieniu dodatniego bilansu energetycznego. Podsumowując, możemy stwierdzić, że relacja między układem tarczycy a otyłością i nadwagą jest złożona i obejmuje wiele poziomów interakcji. Ponadto, poddając ocenie otyłego pacjenta, powinno się rozważyć ocenę funkcji tarczycy, aby uzyskać lepsze i spersonalizowane efekty leczenia

Comparison of CFD and FSI Simulations of Blood Flow in Stenotic Coronary Arteries

Cardiovascular diseases are amongst the main causes of death worldwide, and the main underlying pathological process is atherosclerosis. Over the years, fatty materials are accumulated in the arterial which consequently hinders the blood flow. Due to the great mortality rate of this disease, hemodynamic studies within stenotic arteries have been of great clinical interest, and computational methods have played an important role. Commonly, computational fluid dynamics methods, where only the blood flow behavior is considered, however, the study of both blood and artery walls’ interaction is of foremost importance. In this regard, in the present study, both computational fluid dynamics and fluid-structure interaction modeling analysis were performed in order to evaluate if the arterial wall compliance affects considerably the hemodynamic results obtained in idealized stenotic coronary models. From the overall results, it was observed that the influence of wall compliance was noteworthy on wall shear stress distribution, but its effect on the time-averaged wall shear stress and on the oscillatory shear index was minor

Acute Stress in Health Workers during Two Consecutive EpidemicWaves of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has provoked generalized uncertainty around the world, with health workers experiencing anxiety, depression, burnout, insomnia, and stress. Although the effects of the pandemic on mental health may change as it evolves, the majority of reports have been web-based, cross-sectional studies. We performed a study assessing acute stress in frontline healthworkers during two consecutive epidemic waves. After screening for trait anxiety/depression and dissociative experiences, we evaluated changes in acute stress, considering resilience, state anxiety, burnout, depersonalization/derealization symptoms, and quality of sleep as cofactors. During the first epidemic wave (April 2020), health workers reported acute stress related to COVID-19, which was related to state anxiety. After the first epidemic wave, acute stress decreased, with no increase during the second epidemic wave (December 2020), and further decreased when vaccination started.During the follow-up (April 2020 to February 2021), the acute stress score was related to bad quality of sleep. However, acute stress, state anxiety, and burnout were all related to trait anxiety/depression, while the resilience score was invariant through time. Overall, the results emphasize the relevance of mental health screening before, during

Receptor de GPS experimental para satélites de órbita baja

En este trabajo se presenta el diseño, la implementación y la validación de un receptor de GPS capaz de operar en un satélite de baja órbita. Se desarrolló tanto el hardware como el software necesario debiendo recurrir a diversas técnicas como diseño de circuitos de radio frecuencia y circuitos impresos para señales de alta velocidad, sincronización de señales de comunicaciones digitales, diseño de software de tiempo real y algoritmos de estimación no lineal. El desarrollo completo de un receptor de GPS con estas características, resultado de más de 10 años de trayectoria en la temática del grupo de trabajo, pone en evidencia el nivel de desarrollo que puede tener la electrónica realizada en el país. El receptor fue implementado y probado, pudiéndose verificar su correcto funcionamiento. Se muestran algunas de las pruebas realizadas, por simulación y con mediciones reales, que permitieron validar distintas etapas del diseño. Actualmente, este receptor forma parte del satélite argentino SAC-D de la CONAE a ser puesto en órbita en 2011.Facultad de Ingenierí

Radiomic analysis of MRI to Predict Sustained Complete Response after Radiofrequency Ablation in Patients with Hepatocellular Carcinoma - A Pilot Study

OBJECTIVES: To investigate whether quantitative textural features, extracted from pretreatment MRI, can predict sustained complete response to radiofrequency ablation (RFA) in patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: In this IRB-approved study, patients were selected from a maintained six-year database of consecutive patients who underwent both pretreatment MRI imaging with a probable or definitive imaging diagnosis of HCC (LI-RADS 4 or 5) and loco-regional treatment with RFA. An experienced radiologist manually segmented the hepatic nodules in MRI arterial and equilibrium phases to obtain the volume of interest (VOI) for extraction of 107 quantitative textural features, including shape and first- and second-order features. Statistical analysis was performed to evaluate associations between textural features and complete response. RESULTS: The study consisted of 34 patients with 51 treated hepatic nodules. Sustained complete response was achieved by 6 patients (4 with single nodule and 2 with multiple nodules). Of the 107 features from the arterial and equilibrium phases, 20 (18%) and 25 (23%) achieved AUC >0.7, respectively. The three best performing features were found in the equilibrium phase: Dependence Non-Uniformity Normalized and Dependence Variance (both GLDM class, with AUC of 0.78 and 0.76, respectively) and Maximum Probability (GLCM class, AUC of 0.76). CONCLUSIONS: This pilot study demonstrates that a radiomic analysis of pre-treatment MRI might be useful in identifying patients with HCC who are most likely to have a sustained complete response to RFA. Second-order features (GLDM and GLCM) extracted from equilibrium phase obtained highest discriminatory performance

Receptor GNSS multiantena para aplicaciones aeroespaciales

La determinación de la posición y velocidad del vehículo es una de las tareas críticas en las aplicaciones aeroespaciales como es el caso de aviones, satélites o cohetes. En los últimos años esta tarea se ha visto favorecida por el despliegue de los Sistemas de Navegación Global por Satélite (GNSS). Estos sistemas, utilizando como base una constelación de satélites que envían señales a la superficie terrestre, permiten que un usuario que cuente con un receptor adecuado pueda obtener esta información, en tiempo real y en cualquier parte del mundo. De los GNSS existentes el sistema GPS de EEUU fue el primero operativo y es el de uso más difundido. El segundo, con varios años de historia y declarado operativo recientemente, es el sistema ruso GLONASS. Además, existen varios GNSS en desarrollo como el Galileo de Europa y el COMPASS de China, que todavía no están operativos. (Párrafo extraído del texto a modo de resumen)Facultad de Ingenierí