Histiocitosis de células de Langerhans en el raquis infantil

Introducción: la Histiocitosis de células de Langerhans incluye un amplio espectro de enfermedades de etiología desconocida, observada preponderantemente en niños. El objetivo del presente trabajo es: analizar formas de presentación, estudios complementarios, procedimientos diagnósticos, criterios de estadificación y resultados de distintas modalidades terapéuticas en 12 pacientes con Histiocitosis de células de Langerhans con localización raquídea. Materiales y Métodos: doce pacientes evaluados retrospectivamente con diseño de caso-control, tratados entre 1983- 2004. Seguimiento promedio 5 años. La estadificación incluyó extensión anatómica (Weinstein-Boriani-Biagini) y comportamiento biológico (Enneking). El centellograma, la TC y la RNM fueron los estudios de elección. El tratamiento incluyó corticoides, radioterapia, quimioterapia y cirugía. Resultados: relación masculino-femenino 10-2, media edad 9 años 5 meses. Datos clínicos relevantes: dolor, limitación funcional o deformidad y compromiso neurológico. Predominio de formas únicas en raquis lumbar, cuerpo vertebral. Las variables clínicas fueron modificadas favorablemente con significancia estadística (p < 0,05). Se obtuvo la remisión de la enfermedad sin excepciones, pero persistieron distintas secuelas morfológicas vertebrales, sin traducción clínica. Conclusión: Se obtuvo la curación de las lesiones, independientemente del tratamiento realizado. Al momento del diagnóstico, ningún criterio clínico, histológico o de imágenes pudo predecir el curso ulterior de la enfermedad.Background: Langerhans' Cell Histiocytosis includes a wide spectrum of disorders of unknown etiology observed mostly in children. The purpose of this investigation is: to analyze the clinical course, the complementary studies, the diagnostic procedures, the criteria of stadification and the results of the diverse treatment modalities, in the spine involvement. Methods: twelve pediatric patients treated from 1983 to 2004 were retrospectively reviewed through a case-control design. Mean follow up was 5 years. Lesions were classified according to their anatomical extent (Weinstein-Boriani-Biagini) and biological behavior (Enneking). Supports for staging and searching were taken from Scintigraphy, CT and MRI. Treatment was performed by surgery, chemotherapy, corticosteroids and radiation therapy, depending on the extent of the disease. Alpha was set at 0.05. Results: male-female ratio was 10-2. The most frequent clinical data were pain, deformity or stiffness and neurological impairment. Solitary location was prevalent. The lumbar spine was most frequently affected. The vertebral body was involved in all the cases. Clinical data were improved without exceptions but vertebral body collapse underwent poor improvement. Conclusions: recurrence free-healing was obtained in all cases, regardless of treatment method. At the time of diagnosis, no clinical, radiographic or histological criteria could predict the course of the disease

Evaluación de las medidas de humedad de suelo generadas con datos disgregados de satélite a escala de parcela agrícola

El interés de medir la humedad de suelo a escala de parcela de cultivo mediante teledetección ha aumentado debido a la fácil disponibilidad de los datos y, que a diferencia de los sensores de humedad de suelo, no es necesario dedicar tiempo y dinero a la instalación y mantenimiento en campo. Estas medidas tienen una baja resolución espacial de 40 km. El algoritmo DisPATCh disgrega los valores de humedad de suelo de 40 km a 1 km de resolución. En este trabajo se han comparado medidas de humedad in situ de la parcela con los valores obtenidos con el algoritmo DisPATCh para evaluar en qué escenarios puede estimar correctamente la humedad de suelo a 1 km de resolución. También se ha realizado un estudio geoestadístico mediante variogramas para comprobar que DisPATCh estima la humedad de suelo a la resolución comentada. Los resultados muestran que DisPATCh no es capaz de estimar la humedad de suelo cuando las condiciones de humedad del área de estudio son distintas a las de la región donde se encuentra.Postprint (published version

Human observers and automated assessment of dynamic emotional facial expressions: KDEF-dyn database validation

Most experimental studies of facial expression processing have used static stimuli (photographs), yet facial expressions in daily life are generally dynamic. In its original photographic format, the Karolinska Directed Emotional Faces (KDEF) has been frequently utilized. In the current study, we validate a dynamic version of this database, the KDEF-dyn. To this end, we applied animation between neutral and emotional expressions (happy, sad, angry, fearful, disgusted, and surprised; 1,033-ms unfolding) to 40 KDEF models, with morphing software. Ninety-six human observers categorized the expressions of the resulting 240 video-clip stimuli, and automated face analysis assessed the evidence for 6 expressions and 20 facial action units (AUs) at 31 intensities. Low-level image properties (luminance, signal-to-noise ratio, etc.) and other purely perceptual factors (e.g., size, unfolding speed) were controlled. Human recognition performance (accuracy, efficiency, and confusions) patterns were consistent with prior research using static and other dynamic expressions. Automated assessment of expressions and AUs was sensitive to intensity manipulations. Significant correlations emerged between human observers' categorization and automated classification. The KDEF-dyn database aims to provide a balance between experimental control and ecological validity for research on emotional facial expression processing. The stimuli and the validation data are available to the scientific community

Big data analyses reveal patterns and drivers of the movements of southern elephant seals

The growing number of large databases of animal tracking provides an opportunity for analyses of movement patterns at the scales of populations and even species. We used analytical approaches, developed to cope with big data, that require no a priori assumptions about the behaviour of the target agents, to analyse a pooled tracking dataset of 272 elephant seals (Mirounga leonina) in the Southern Ocean, that was comprised of >500,000 location estimates collected over more than a decade. Our analyses showed that the displacements of these seals were described by a truncated power law distribution across several spatial and temporal scales, with a clear signature of directed movement. This pattern was evident when analysing the aggregated tracks despite a wide diversity of individual trajectories. We also identified marine provinces that described the migratory and foraging habitats of these seals. Our analysis provides evidence for the presence of intrinsic drivers of movement, such as memory, that cannot be detected using common models of movement behaviour. These results highlight the potential for big data techniques to provide new insights into movement behaviour when applied to large datasets of animal tracking.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figures, 6 supplementary figure

Hacia un proceso de migración de la seguridad de sistemas heredados al Cloud

El desarrollo de la computación en la nube es una tendencia fuerte en la industria de las TI que hace que los clientes de este nuevo modelo de prestación de servicios, sobre todo las empresas, se enfrenten a desafíos nuevos en lo que se refiere a la gestión de la seguridad de sus aplicaciones heredadas en el nuevo entorno. La cuestión es en cómo migrar de forma segura los sistemas de información heredados de estas empresas. Este artículo presenta un proceso (SMiLe2Cloud) y un marco de trabajo con el que se puede migrar de forma segura los sistemas corporativos heredados a infraestructuras o entornos en la nube, siguiendo los 14 dominios de seguridad del CSA y utilizando ingeniería inversa.Esta investigación es parte de los siguientes proyectos: GEODAS (TIN2012-37493-C03-01) y SIGMA-CC (TIN2012-36904) financiados por el “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad y Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional FEDER”, España

Polynomial approximation using particle swarm optimization of lineal enhanced neural networks with no hidden layers.

This paper presents some ideas about a new neural network architecture that can be compared to a Taylor analysis when dealing with patterns. Such architecture is based on lineal activation functions with an axo-axonic architecture. A biological axo-axonic connection between two neurons is defined as the weight in a connection in given by the output of another third neuron. This idea can be implemented in the so called Enhanced Neural Networks in which two Multilayer Perceptrons are used; the first one will output the weights that the second MLP uses to computed the desired output. This kind of neural network has universal approximation properties even with lineal activation functions. There exists a clear difference between cooperative and competitive strategies. The former ones are based on the swarm colonies, in which all individuals share its knowledge about the goal in order to pass such information to other individuals to get optimum solution. The latter ones are based on genetic models, that is, individuals can die and new individuals are created combining information of alive one; or are based on molecular/celular behaviour passing information from one structure to another. A swarm-based model is applied to obtain the Neural Network, training the net with a Particle Swarm algorithm

Limit analysis of loaded out-of-plane rubble masonry : a case study in Portugal

An integrated methodology for the characterization of the response of rubble masonry is presented. The behaviour at collapse of a wall belonging to the Guimarães castle (Portugal) is investigated through a rigid-plastic homogenization procedure, accounting both for the actual disposition of the blocks constituting the walls and texture irregularity, given by the variability of block dimensions. A detailed survey is conducted by means of a photogrammetric technique, allowing for a precise characterization of blocks dimensions and disposition. After a geometric simplification assuming mortar joints reduced to interfaces, homogenized masonry in- and out-of-plane strength domains are evaluated on a number of different representing elements of volume (RVEs) having different sizes and sampled on the walls of the castle. Strength domains are obtained using a finite element (FE) limit analysis with a heterogeneous discretization by triangles and interfaces. Finally, a series of limit analyses are carried out on the façade for the safety assessment under seismic loads by means of two numerical models, the first one being a heterogeneous model and the second a homogenized approach. The reliability of the results, in terms of limit load and failure mechanism, provided by the homogenized model, when compared to the heterogeneous one is satisfactory.(undefined

Métricas para la medición de las competencias generales y específicas para el Grado en Ingeniería Informática

El proceso de elaboración de las memorias de grado se ha basado en un conjunto de competencias generales y específicas que, en la mayoría de los casos, entrañan un alto nivel de abstracción y ambigüedad. Por otro lado, la aparición de las competencias no ha ayudado a los alumnos a entender mejor en qué medida alcanzan los objetivos de las diferentes asignaturas, ni a tomar mejores decisiones sobre los pasos a seguir en su carrera profesional. En este artículo se pretende mostrar los resultados obtenidos durante la investigación realizada, que ha tenido como objetivo desgranar las competencias generales y específicas del Grado en Ingeniería Informática, de modo que se ofrezca un acercamiento mucho más concreto y detallado con las asignaturas y, consecuentemente, que pueda justificarse adecuadamente la forma en que las asignaturas permiten alcanzar parcial o completamente las competencias para el grado. Este enfoque, y su orientación a obtener métricas sobre las que valorar el grado en que se han alcanzado los objetivos, también permitirá que los alumnos puedan tomar mejores decisiones a la hora de seleccionar las diferentes asignaturas del grado y conocer para qué competencias están mejor cualificados.SUMMARY -- The process of writing honours theses is based on a set of general and specific competences which, in the majority of cases, entail a high level of abstraction and ambiguity. What is more, the apparition of these competences has not helped students towards a better understanding of the extent to which they attain the objectives of their various subjects, or to make better decisions as regards the steps to follow in their professional careers. The intention of this paper is to show the results obtained during research whose objective was to separate the general and specific competences involved in the Computer Engineering Degree in order to provide a much more concrete and detailed approach to the subjects, which will consequently allow the way in which the subjects permit the partial or total attainment of the competences for the degree to be justified. This approach, and its orientation towards obtaining metrics with which to evaluate the degree to which the objectives have been attained, will also allow students to make better decisions when selecting various degree subjects and to discover for which competences they are best qualified.Peer Reviewe