Search

Introduction There is a need for biomarkers to monitor the earliest phases of Parkinson's disease (PD), especially in premotor stages. Here, we studied whether there are early gait alterations in carriers of the G2019S mutation of LRRK2 that can be detected by means of an inertial sensor system. Methods Twenty-one idiopathic PD patients, 20 LRRK2-G2019S PD, 27 asymptomatic carriers of LRRK2-G2019S mutation (AsG2019S) and 36 controls walked equipped with 16 lightweight inertial sensors in three different experiments: i/normal gait, ii/fast gait and iii/dual-task gait. In the AsG2019S group, DaT-SPECT (123I-ioflupane) with semi-quantitative analysis was carried out. Motor and cognitive performance were evaluated using MDS-UPDRS-III and MoCA scales. We employed neural network techniques to classify individuals based on their walking patterns. Results PD patients and controls showed differences in speed, stride length and arm swing amplitude, variability and asymmetry in all three tasks (p < 0.01). In the AsG2019S group, the only differences were detected during fast walking, with greater step time on the non-dominant side (p < 0.05), lower step/stride time variability (p < 0.01) and lower step time asymmetry (p < 0.01). DaT uptake showed a significant correlation with step time during fast walking on the non-dominant side (r = ?0.52; p < 0.01). The neural network was able to differentiate between AsG2019S and healthy controls with an accuracy rate of 82.5%. Conclusion Our sensor-based analysis did not detect substantial and robust changes in the gait of LRRK2-G2019S asymptomatic mutation carriers. Nonetheless, step or stride time during fast walking, supported by the observed correlation with striatal DaT binding deserves consideration as a potential biomarker in future studies.

[Background] Previous studies linked disease-progression variables such as age at onset or survival to both genetic, and non-genetic factors in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients., [Objective] The aim of this study was to assess how genetic and non genetic factors act as modifiers of age at onset and survival and in a cohort of 753 PD patients, and to determine how these variables interact to define the overall risk., [Methods] We analyzed the effect of gender, tobacco, alcohol, type of PD (genetic, gPD or idiopathic, iPD) and three genetic variants rs5848- GRN, rs1042522- TP53 and APOE. We studied two cohorts (PPMI and IPDGC) to replicate positive results., [Results] Regarding age at onset, male smokers PD had a significantly lower mean age compared to non-smoker (p = 0.001). APOE-Ɛ4 carriers had a younger onset-age compared to non-carriers (p = 0.03) in the Spanish cohort, but these results were not replicated in the other cohorts. Concerning survival, PD patients with an early onset (below 50 years) had an increased survival rate (p < 0.001)., [Conclusions] Our study showed how several genetic and non-genetic risk factors influenced the age at onset and survival in PD., Irene Rosas was supported by a grant from Fundación Jose Luis Castaño-SEQC. Sergio Pérez-Oliveira is supported by Fundación Parkinson Asturias-Obra Social Cajastur. This study was supported by grant PI 15/00878 (Fondos Feder) to VA.

From an economic point of view, the steel industry plays an important role and, when it comes to responding to new challenges, innovation is a crucial factor. This paper proposes a mathematical methodology to solve the slitting problem in a steel company located in Europe. The slitting problem occurs when large width steel coils are slit into narrower coils, known as strips, to meet the requirements of the customers. A major challenge here is defining a slitting plan to fulfil all these requirements, as well as ongoing operational constraints and customer demands. The company looks for a reduction of the leftovers generated in the entire process, while maximising the overall accuracy of the orders. These leftovers may be used in the future as part of new orders provided they are able to respond to specific requirements, or otherwise they are discarded and considered as scrap. This paper introduces a novel mixed integer linear optimisation model to respond to a specific slitting problem. The model is validated with real data and it outperforms the results obtained by the company in different ways: by adjusting the orders that are to be served, by reducing the amount of scrap and by using the retails for future orders. Furthermore, the model is solved in only a few minutes, while the company needs several hours to prepare the scheduling in the current operating process.

Blockchain’s benefits and advantages have been extensively studied in literature, but far fewer works can be found on the dishonest uses of them. In this paper, we present the first blockchain-based ransomware schemes, which use smart contracts and simple cryptographic primitives to provide a limited degree of automation and fair exchange. Specifically, the use of smart contracts would enable new capabilities for ransomware, such as the possibility of paying for individual files or the refund of the ransom to the victim if the decryption keys are not received within a specified period of time. To demonstrate their feasibility, both technically and economically, these proposals have been implemented in the Ethereum Ropsten test network. The results show that running a full ransomware campaign similar to WannaCry, with more than 300,000 affected users, would have an additional cost of only 3 cents of a dollar per victim. Finally, we show that there are no feasible countermeasures if these schemes are implemented in public blockchains. Therefore, we firmly believe that it is increasingly urgent to recognize and study this matter, in order to create new policies and technical countermeasures.

Traumatic events and violence are widespread public health problems. They do not have limits related to age, sex or socioeconomic level. The prevalence of mental disorders and sociodemographic characteristics were compared in the context of traumatic events and types of violence in the general population.Observational prevalence study with a secondary information source, in the general population aged 13 to 65 years, selected at random. The interview was conducted using the Compositum International Diagnosis Interview which generates psychiatric diagnoses according to the DSM-IV. The variables included were traumatic events grouped into five categories: related to armed conflict, sexual violence, interfamily violence, other types of violence, traumas and some mental disorders. The prevalence of mental disorders was compared in the five categories of traumatic events. Statistical significance was defined as a p value of0.05.Sexual and interfamily violence were more prevalent in women (p0.05). In those under age 13, major depression related to armed conflict had a prevalence of 48.3%, with a significant difference from the other trauma groups (p=0.015). All prevalences for childhood-onset disorders showed significantly different prevalences compared with the group for violence related to armed conflict (p0.05) and suicidal ideation was higher in the sexual violence group (p=0.006).High prevalences of mental disorders were found in people who had been exposed to traumatic events and violence. In those who experienced traumatic events related to armed conflict and sexual violence, higher prevalences of certain mental disorders were detected.

Resumen Introduccion Los eventos traumaticos y la violencia son problemas de salud publica generalizados. No tienen limites de edad, sexo o nivel socioeconomico. Se comparo la prevalencia de trastornos mentales y las caracteristicas sociodemograficas desde la perspectiva de eventos traumaticos y tipos de violencia en poblacion general. Material y metodos Estudio observacional de prevalencia, con fuente de informacion secundaria, en poblacion general de 13 a 65 anos, seleccionados al azar. La entrevista se realizo con la Compositum International Diagnosis Interview, la cual genera diagnosticos psiquiatricos segun el DSM-IV. Las variables incluidas fueron: eventos traumaticos agrupados en 5 categorias: relacionadas con el conflicto armado, violencia sexual, violencia intrafamiliar, otras violencias, traumas y algunos trastornos mentales. Se compararon las prevalencias de trastornos mentales en las 5 categorias de eventos traumaticos. Se definio la significacion estadistica en p Resultados La violencia sexual e intrafamiliar fueron mas prevalentes en mujeres (p Discusion Se encontraron altas prevalencias de trastornos mentales en personas con exposicion en la vida a eventos traumaticos y violencia. En quienes experimentaron eventos traumaticos relacionados con el conflicto armado y la violencia sexual, se encontraron las mas altas prevalencias de algunos trastornos mentales.

Small-scale PV generation is particularly affected by the irradiance variability produced by cloud shadows. Accurate predictions of the clouds passing over the PV field are thus necessary for the optimized management and integration of this renewable power source. Two main elements are required to perform these predictions: the local irradiance field and the cloud motion vector. Irradiance sensor networks are positioning as a promising data source at the spatial and temporal scales of the problem, avoiding the irradiance inference problems and costs of image-based instrumentation. This paper proposes a method to infer the cloud shadow motion vector from small-scale irradiance sensor networks data. The method does not require specific network configuration or layout, and the algorithm is computationally simple: graphical solutions are obtained by aggregating mean absolute errors in a diagram/matrix with each element representing a possible displacement of the cloud shadows. The validation is conducted with a fractal cloud model that allows the generation of irradiance time series according to an arbitrary cloud motion vector. The most correlated pair and the linear cloud edge methods are used for benchmarking purposes. Gridded and non-gridded sensors layouts are tested with number of sensors ranging from 9 to 100, monitored areas from 100 to 10000 m2, and sampling periods from 0.3 to 3.3 s. The results show the superiority of the proposed method with a reduction of 50–90% of the root mean square errors respect to the benchmark methods in 75% of the tests. Additionally, the proposed method maintains similar performance as sampling rate decreases, while the benchmark methods exhibit worsening results.

Although talking about cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) dysfunction has traditionally been synonymous with talking about cystic fibrosis (CF) (even the name of the disease itself is included in the name of the molecule), it should be remembered that the term really refers to a continuous spectrum of alterations in the amount and/or function of CFTR, whose genetic basis is known in greater detail and explain, at least in part, the great heterogeneity of CF [1], [2], [3]. At the most severe end of this spectrum lies the loss of function in both copies of the CFTR gene that will cause severe CF while partial reductions in its activity (for example, due to the presence of a deleterious variant) could go unnoticed or have clinical consequences that cannot be classified under the concept of CF, EQG has received honoraria during the last 3 years for lecturing, scientific advice, participation in clinical studies and writing for publications for (in alphabetical order): Chiesi, Teva and Vertex Pharmaceuticals.

In both prodromal and early symptomatic stages of idiopathic PD (iPD) peripapillary retinal nerve fiber layer (pRNFL) and macular ganglion cell layer (mGCL) thinning have been identified. Here we assessed whether these alterations can also be detected in symptomatic and presymptomatic stages of LRRK2-PD.218 eyes belonging to 20 iPD, 19 LRRK2-PD (L2PD), 24 LRRK2 non-manifesting carriers (L2NMC), and 46 controls (HCs). pRNFL, mGCL thickness (squares), and Bruch's membrane opening minimum rim width were evaluated by SD-OCT. In L2NMC,Compared to HCs, iPD patients showed significant thinning of the temporal (BMO-MRW and pRNFL), superior-temporal (BMO-MRW), inferior-temporal (BMO-MRW), superior-nasal (BMO-MRW) and central sectors (BMO-MRW) (p 0.05), as well as in five mGCL sectors (p 0.05). No significant differences were found between the L2PD or L2NMC and HCs. BMO-MRW thickness in its temporal-superior, superior-nasal and middle sectors was influenced by disease duration (p 0.05) and mGCL thickness in sectors TS1, TS2, TS3, NS1 and NS3 was influenced by UPDRSIII and age (p 0.05).LRRK2-PD is distinguished from iPD by absent or less retinal nerve involvement, both in clinical and preclinical stages.

Resumen Introduccion El suicidio es la tercera causa de muerte de jovenes entre 15 y 19 anos, poblacion en la que esta conducta esta en aumento desde 2014. Determinar los factores asociados con este comportamiento complejo es el primer paso en el desarrollo de estrategias de intervencion temprana. E objetivo es analizar los factores sociodemograficos y clinicos psiquiatricos asociados con el comportamiento suicida de los adolescentes de Envigado en 2017. Metodos Estudio transversal analitico de base poblacional, anidado en el Estudio Poblacional de Salud Mental de Envigado, 2017. Se incluyo a 201 adolescentes de 15-18 anos a quienes se aplico el CIDI-3. Se calculo la prevalencia de comportamiento suicida y se analizaron los factores sociodemograficos y clinicos asociados mediante regresion logistica multivariada. Se presentan las OR con sus IC95%. Resultados La media de edad fue 15 anos, con el 51,7% de mujeres. Las prevalencias de comportamiento suicida fueron del 20,9% para ideacion, el 12,9% para planeacion y el 10,9% para intento. Ser mujer (OR = 1,12; IC95%, 1,02-4,87), de bajo nivel socioeconomico (OR = 4,09; IC95%, 1,80-9,23), con antecedente de trastorno negativista desafiante (OR = 4,89; IC95%, 1,17-20,39) o con antecedente de trastorno depresivo mayor (OR = 5,26; IC95%, 1,91-14,48) se asociaron con comportamiento suicida. Conclusiones Entre los adolescentes de la ciudad de Envigado, el comportamiento suicida tiene una alta prevalencia, mayor entre quienes estan en desventaja social y economica, particularmente las mujeres. Este perfil se debe considerar en la planeacion de estrategias de promocion de la salud mental y prevencion de los trastornos mentales.

In Europe, gastric adenocarcinoma (GADC) is commonly regarded as a disease of the elderly. This study aims to assess the proportion, characteristics, and survival of patients diagnosed with GADC under the age of 60.This is a retrospective, multicentric, and analytical study conducted at four tertiary Spanish hospitals. All patients diagnosed with GADC between 2008 and 2015 were included. Demographic, clinical, endoscopic, histologic, and survival data were retrieved. A multivariate analysis was performed to compare GADC in young (age≤60 years) and elderly patients.A total of 1374 patients with GADC were included. The mean age was 74 years (SD:11.1); 62.2% were males. There were 177 patients under the age of 60 (12.9%, 95% CI: 11.2-14.8%). GADC was frequently encountered as a metastatic disease in both young and elderly patients (Stage IV: 45.7% and 41%, respectively). In the multivariate analysis, alcohol abuse, ASA functional status I-II, diffuse subtype, neoadjuvant, and palliative therapy were independently associated (P0.05) with age ≤60 years. No differences were found in 2-year survival (GADC ≤60: 39% vs. 35%, P=0.45). Curative-intent surgery, TNM stage I-II, body mass index30kg/mOne out of eight cases of GADC were diagnosed under the age of 60. Metastatic disease was frequent at diagnosis and overall survival was poor regardless of age. Factors associated with localized disease correlated with improved survival in younger patients. Our results underline the need for early diagnosis strategies in our country.

Missed gastric cancer (MGC) is poorly documented in Mediterranean populations.(1) To assess the rate, predictors and survival of MGC. (2) To compare MGC and non-MGC tumors.This is a retrospective-cohort study conducted at four centers. MGC was defined as cancer detected within three years after negative esophagogastroduodenoscopy. Gastric adenocarcinomas diagnosed between 2008-2015 were included. Patients with no follow-up were excluded.During the study period 123,395 esophagogastroduodenoscopies were performed, with 1374 gastric cancers being diagnosed (1.1%). A total of 1289 gastric cancers were finally included. The overall rate of MGC was 4.7% (61/1289, 3.7-6%). A negative esophagogastroduodenoscopy in MGC patients was independently associated with PPI therapy (p 0.001), previous Billroth II anastomosis (p = 0.002), and lack of alarm symptoms (p 0.001). The most frequent location for MGC was the gastric body(52.4%). MGCs were smaller than non-MGCs (31 vs 41 mm, p = 0.047), more often flat or depressed (p = 0.003) and less likely to be encountered as advanced disease. Overall 2-year survival was similar between MGC (34.1%) and Non-MGC (35.3 %) (p = 0.59).MGC accounted for nearly five percent of newly-diagnosed gastric adenocarcinomas. Overall survival was poor and not different between MGC and non-MGC.

The role of vitamin D in mammographic density is still unclear. This study examines the association between serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) and mammographic density, overall and by specific women characteristics. DDM-Madrid is a cross-sectional study that recruited 1403 premenopausal women in a breast radiodiagnosis unit of Madrid City Council. Information was collected with a questionnaire and plasma 25(OH)D was measured by solid-phase extraction on-line coupled to liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Percent mammographic density was assessed using a semi-automated computer tool (DM-Scan). Multivariable linear regression models were used to quantify the associations, categorizing 25(OH)D levels (nmol/L) into 3 groups according to the cut-offs established by the US Endocrine Society. Models were adjusted for age, education, body mass index, age at menarche, parity, previous breast biopsies, family history of breast cancer, physical activity, energy intake, use of corticoids, hypercholesterolemia and day of sample extraction. Mean serum 25(OH)D level was 49.4 + 18.9 nmol/L. Women with sufficient concentrations of 25(OH)D showed a slight decrease in mammographic density (β >75nmol/L=-3.40; p = 0.037). No differences were observed according to women characteristics except for parity, where the protective effect of 25(OH)D was only seen among nulliparous (β >75nmol/L=-13.00; p-heterogeneity = 0.006). In light of the protective effect of vitamin D on mammographic density and the high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency in our population, improving these levels could be an effective measure for the prevention of health problems related to the lack of this essential vitamin.

espanolIntroduccion El trasplante autologo de precursores hematopoyeticos (TPHA) es una modalidad de tratamiento aceptada para la enfermedad de Crohn (EC) refractaria. Material y metodos Se recogen los pacientes con EC refractaria sometidos a TPHA en el hospital Universitario Ramon y Cajal de Madrid y se describen de forma retrospectiva los resultados obtenidos. Resultados Un total de 7 pacientes han recibido TPHA debido a EC refractaria en nuestro centro. Tres pacientes (43%) presentaron remision clinica y endoscopica; un paciente (14%) mejoria clinica sin remision y 3 pacientes (43%) permanecian activos con necesidad de reinicio del tratamiento en la valoracion de la respuesta inicial al TPHA (a 6 meses). Los sintomas recurrieron en 5 de los 7 pacientes (71%), y todos ellos requirieron reinicio de tratamiento medico a una media de 13,8 meses (rango: 3-30 meses). Solo un paciente requirio cirugia tras el TPHA. Al final del seguimiento a una media de 48 meses (rango: 17-78 meses) 5/7 (71%) de los pacientes estaban en remision clinica con o sin tratamiento. Conclusion El TPHA puede ser una opcion terapeutica prometedora para pacientes con EC refractaria. Su utilidad radica en que puede producir la remision clinica sin tratamiento en algunos pacientes, pero tambien en que puede hacer la enfermedad tratable, consiguiendo respuesta a determinados tratamientos en pacientes que la habian perdido previamente. EnglishAbstract Introduction Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) is an accepted treatment in refractory Crohn's disease (CD). Material and methods Data on patients with refractory CD subjected to AHSCT are collected at the Hospital Universitario Ramon y Cajal in Madrid and the results obtained are described retrospectively. Results Seven patients in total have received AHSCT due to refractory CD in our centre. Three patients (43%) presented with clinical and endoscopic remission; one patient (14%) clinical improvement without remission and three patients (43%) remained active with the need to restart treatment in the assessment of the initial response to the AHSCT (after six months). Symptoms recurred in five of the seven patients (71%) and all of them had to restart medical treatment after an average of 13.8 months (range: 3–30 months). Only one patient needed surgery after the AHSCT. At the end of the follow-up, after a mean of 48 months (range: 17–78 months), 5/7 (71%) of the patients were in clinical remission with or without treatment. Conclusion AHSCT may be a promising therapeutic option for patients with refractory CD. Its usefulness lies in the fact that it can produce clinical remission without treatment in some patients, but also that it can make the disease treatable, obtaining a response to certain treatments in patients who had previously lost it.

Resumen Introduccion Al menos el 10% de pacientes con trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo (TOC) son refractarios al tratamiento psicofarmacologico. La aparicion de nuevas tecnologias neuroquirurgicas (estimulacion cerebral profunda[ECP]) de modulacion de la actividad neuronal alterada esta posibilitando su extension a casos graves y refractarios de TOC en los que anteriormente se utilizaban tecnicas quirurgicas no reversibles. El objetivo de este articulo es revisar la evidencia cientifica existente sobre la eficacia y aplicabilidad de esta tecnica en este grupo de pacientes. Metodo Se ha realizado una revision sistematica de la literatura en las bases de datos PubMed/Medline, Embase y PsycINFO usando las palabras clave relacionadas con «deep brain stimulation», «DBS» y «obsessive-compulsive disorder», «OCD». Dos de los autores seleccionaron los articulos, de manera independiente, a partir de sus abstracts y en funcion de si describian alguno de los aspectos principales de la tecnica en el TOC: aplicabilidad; mecanismo de accion; dianas terapeuticas cerebrales; efectividad; efectos secundarios, y coterapias. Toda la informacion fue sistematicamente extraida y evaluada. Resultados El analisis critico de la evidencia senala que la aplicacion de la ECP en el tratamiento del TOC refractario esta aportando resultados satisfactorios, con rangos asumibles de efectos secundarios. Sin embargo, todavia no hay evidencia suficiente que permita priorizar el uso de una determinada diana cerebral. La seleccion de pacientes ha de seguir un analisis de riesgo/beneficio, debiendose individualizar la decision de mantener un tratamiento concomitante farmacologico/psicoterapeutico. Conclusiones La ECP se encuentra todavia en el ambito de la investigacion, pero su aplicacion en el TOC-refractario es cada vez mas frecuente, produciendo en la mayoria de los estudios una significativa mejoria de los sintomas, y tambien del funcionamiento y calidad de vida. Es preciso realizar mas estudios controlados y aleatorizados sobre su efectividad a largo plazo, y sobre su relacion riesgo/beneficio y costes.

Introduction Autologous haematopoietic stem cell transplantation (AHSCT) is an accepted treatment in refractory Crohn's disease (CD). Material and methods Data on patients with refractory CD subjected to AHSCT are collected at the Hospital Universitario Ramon y Cajal in Madrid and the results obtained are described retrospectively. Results Seven patients in total have received AHSCT due to refractory CD in our centre. Three patients (43%) presented with clinical and endoscopic remission; one patient (14%) clinical improvement without remission and three patients (43%) remained active with the need to restart treatment in the assessment of the initial response to the AHSCT (after six months). Symptoms recurred in five of the seven patients (71%) and all of them had to restart medical treatment after an average of 13.8 months (range: 3–30 months). Only one patient needed surgery after the AHSCT. At the end of the follow-up, after a mean of 48 months (range: 17–78 months), 5/7 (71%) of the patients were in clinical remission with or without treatment. Conclusion AHSCT may be a promising therapeutic option for patients with refractory CD. Its usefulness lies in the fact that it can produce clinical remission without treatment in some patients, but also that it can make the disease treatable, obtaining a response to certain treatments in patients who had previously lost it.

Context Lack of coordination may create significant problems between work teams, this problem is even most critical when team workers are geographically distributed as it results in cost increases and delays in the projects. There exists a technique called Socio-Technical Congruence (STC) that aims at helping to measure and control the coordination level existing in an organization at their different levels. Objective The objective of this paper is to carry out a systematic mapping of the field of socio-technical congruence. The aspects of particular interest for this article are: Socio-Technical Congruence definition, different ways to measure it, available tools to measure or that can help to measure it, the areas of application, its benefits and the case studies that analyze the effects Socio-Technical Congruence has on the organization as regards the products quality and the improvements in performance in the long term development, in an attempt to characterize the state of the art of this field identifying gaps and opportunities for further research. Therefore, companies could use this work as a starting point to apply STC measures in their work teams. Results This paper presents the results of a systematic mapping of Literature about Socio-Technical Congruence (STC) in order to investigate and classify the existing articles and conferences about the subject, as well as summarizing the most important aspects in regards to provide a general overview about the existing studies. Conclusions After analyzing the 40 papers found, we can conclude that there is no one standard measure of socio-technical congruence, although most take the proposal by Kwan et al. applying adaptations and improvements on it as regards the environment that it will be focused on. In general, most case studies talk about the benefits of STC control in organizations. However, only one paper focus on global software development where the problems of communication, coordination and control are an important risk. Moreover, there are only a few papers that explore the risks of excessively overloading users with coordination iterations when controlling STC. In fact, no case study to examine these risks and their effect on developers’ productivity has been found. The small number of studies found on STC, together with the research gaps we have pointed out, suggest that further investigation on socio-technical congruence is required.

New detrital zircon-fission track (ZFT) and magnetic fabric data are presented to constrain the time of deposition, provenance and deformation of the of Lower and Upper members of the Amaga Formation in the Amaga Basin. The Amaga Basin is located in the northern Andes, between the Western and Central Cordilleras of Colombia. The Amaga Formation was deposited in a transpressive geodynamic context and is allegedly synchronous with tectonic events such as the Andean orogeny and the Panama-Choco Block collision with the northwestern South American Plate. Detrital ZFT data confirm an Oligocene age for the Lower Member and a middle-Miocene age for the Upper Member of the Amaga Formation. In addition to constraining the depositional age, the ZFT data presented in this study also reflect Paleocene-Eocene, late to early Oligocene and late to middle Miocene cooling in sediment source areas mainly located in the Central and Western Cordilleras of Colombia. These ages can be associated with regional exhumation events in the central and northern Andes of South America. Collisional stages of the Panama-Choco Block against northwestern South America, subduction of the Farallon-Nazca Plate and strike-slip reactivation periods of the Cauca-Romeral fault system, caused NW-SE compression and NE-SW simple shear in the Amaga Basin. This deformational regime, identified by magnetic fabric data, induces syn- and post-depositional deformation over the Amaga Formation.

A comparative analysis between two higher-order statistics in the frequency domain, combined with wavelets’ filters, confirms the existence of three frequency sub-bands that characterize the species emission. De-noising via wavelet eliminates the symmetrical noise and reveals non-Gaussian features. Here, we show that the spectral kurtosis enhances the low and high-frequency components with high power variability, once the filter banks are applied, revealing new zones in the spectrum that are associated to high variability in the amplitudes. Despite de-noising via wavelets, the bi-spectrum is attenuated, but it confirms the frequency pattern of the emission, denoting at the same time the non-zero skewness of these components. Complementarily, it is observed that high bi-frequencies are attenuated more severely, suggesting the idea that certain frequencies content more information regarding symmetry than others. Results have been confirmed using three common wavelet families.

Autonomous measurement units are indispensable for the development of the smart grid in order to get faster processing responses, stability, and to provide the user with information regarding power quality (losses, harmonics, outages, steady-state and transient events). In this paper, the development of a novel FPGA-based real-time analyzer is presented. The signal processing nucleus is based on higher-order statistics, introducing the Spectral Kurtosis as an online assessment. Indeed, this fourth-order spectrum enhances non-Gaussian behavior in very unfavorable noise conditions. In the Power Quality assessment frame, the outline of this spectrum can be used to reveal the presence of underlying electrical perturbations. In this paper it is presented an autonomous analyzer that uses the Spectral Kurtosis to detect the presence of low level harmonics. These harmonics are difficult to detect using conventional techniques and can generate problems in power distribution when they are associated to a resonant response in the powered load. The proposed system has been described in synthesizable VHDL and performs an indirect estimator of a poly-spectrum slide, based on the FFT. This synthesizable description has been implemented using a low cost FPGA, enabling a continuous monitoring of the power signal (without dead times) with a high oversampling rate. The proposed solution has been conceived to be introduced in smart grids with high penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER).

Resumen Objetivos Estudiar la prevalencia de trastorno dual (concomitancia de un trastorno por uso de sustancias y un trastorno mental) en la poblacion general de una pequena ciudad del departamento de Antioquia en Colombia, mediante el analisis secundario de datos del estudio en salud mental realizado en esta poblacion en el ano 2011. Metodos Se aplico a una muestra de 415 sujetos la entrevista Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI), version CAPI de la Organizacion Mundial de la Salud, y el analisis estadistico se realizo mediante el programa SPSS v.21. Resultados Las prevalencias de vida y trastorno dual, considerando como tal el diagnostico de un trastorno mental y un trastorno por uso de sustancias distintas del tabaco, fue del 7,2%. Las sustancias con mayores prevalencias de consumo en la vida para los sujetos con trastorno dual resultaron ser el alcohol (96,7%), la marihuana (80,0%), la cocaina y derivados (33,3%), la heroina (23,3%) y los tranquilizantes no recetados (13,3%); se encontro asociacion estadistica entre consumo de drogas y trastorno dual. La depresion mayor (40%), el trastorno negativista desafiante (36,7%), el estres postraumatico (33,3%), la fobia especifica y el deficit de atencion (26,7%) son los trastornos mas prevalentes en los sujetos con trastorno dual de esta muestra. Consumir alcohol o drogas y cumplir criterios diagnosticos de trastorno dual presentan una asociacion estadistica significativa para el consumo de drogas como marihuana, cocaina, heroina y medicamentos sin prescripcion medica (p 1,00, muy altas cuando la droga consumida es la heroina (RD = 38,754) o los medicamentos no recetados (RD = 29,462). Tener antecedentes familiares de enfermedad y consumo de drogas presenta una alta asociacion estadistica con el trastorno dual, que es aun mayor con los antecedentes de enfermedad mental (p Conclusiones El estudio da cuenta de la prevalencia de sujetos con trastorno dual en una poblacion colombiana. El alcohol, la marihuana, la cocaina y derivados y la heroina son las sustancias mayormente consumidas por estos pacientes, y los trastornos mentales mas prevalentes son la depresion, el TOD y el estres postraumatico. Estos hallazgos motivaran a los clinicos a buscar de manera mas activa la presencia de trastorno dual para orientar mas adecuadamente los planes de tratamiento.

Resumen Introduccion El abordaje de los problemas de salud mental de la poblacion colombiana hace necesario disponer de instrumentos diagnosticos validos, faciles de aplicar y comparables (local e internacionalmente). Objetivo Comparar la sensibilidad y la especificidad diagnostica entre el CIDI 3.0 y el SCID- I para el trastorno depresivo mayor, el trastorno afectivo bipolar I y II y el trastorno por dependencia de sustancias. Metodologia Estudio transversal que comparo en 100 sujetos las prevalencias de vida de tres trastornos mentales por medio del CIDI 3.0 y el SCID- I . La investigacion fue aprobada por el Comite de Etica Institucional. Se midieron la sensibilidad, la especificidad, el valor predictivo positivo y el valor predictivo negativo (con sus respectivos intervalos de confianza del 95%) de las dos entrevistas diagnosticas. Para el analisis de la informacion se utilizo el software SPSS ® version 21.0. Resultados La mediana de edad fue 43,5 [intervalo intercuartilico, 30] anos. La sensibilidad (Se) y la especificidad (Es) mas altas se observaron en el diagnostico de trastorno por dependencia de drogas —Se, 80% (IC95%, 34,94%-100%); Es, 98,46% (IC95%, 94,7%-100%)—. Conclusiones El SCID- I y el CIDI 3.0 mostraron diferentes niveles de sensibilidad y especificidad para los tres trastornos estudiados asi: altas para el trastorno por dependencia de sustancias, moderadas para el trastorno afectivo bipolar I y II y bajas para el trastorno depresivo mayor.

In addition to the solar radiation, wind is other atmospheric parameter which affects the production of concentrated solar plants. The defence strategies, focused on preventing wind damages in collectors, force unproductive configurations in the solar field wasting part of the available resource. This brief note aims to define an efficient approach to estimate this wasted resource considering both the wind conditions and the defence strategy. In a first step, the wasted energy is assessed on four real-life cases considering three years of wind speed, wind gust and solar radiation data. Then, these results are compared with the ones obtained from four proposed approaches designed to test the level of wind description which is required to estimate the wasted resource successfully. Results show that accurate estimations can be obtained from a simple description of the annual mean daily profile of the wind in the emplacement.

This paper presents a novel non-destructive method for termite detection that uses the entropy of the continuous wavelet transform of the acoustic emission signals as an uncertainty measurement, to achieve selective frequency separation in complex impulsive-like noisy scenarios, with the aid of the spectral kurtosis as a validating tool. The goal consists of detecting relevant frequencies, by looking up the minima in the curve associated to the entropy of the difference between the raw data and the wavelet-based reconstructed version. By measuring the signal’s uncertainty, the scales corresponding to the entropy minima, or pseudo-frequencies, manage to target three main types of emissions generated by termites: the modulating components (enveloping curve), the carrier signals (activity, feeding and excavating), and the communicating impulses bursts (alarms). The spectral kurtosis corroborates the location of the entropy minima (optimum uncertainty) matching them to its maxima, associated to frequencies with the highest amplitude variability, and consequently minimizing the measurement uncertainty. The method is primarily conceived to cover the acoustic-range, in order to acquire signals via standard sound cards; a broaden high-frequency study is developed for the assessment, and with the added value of discovering new and higher frequency components of the species emissions. The potential of the method makes it useful for myriads of applications in the frame of nondestructive transient detection.

Resumen Introduccion El trastorno por deficit de atencion e hiperactividad es un problema del neurodesarrollo de alta prevalencia que se asocia con grave disfuncion personal, familiar y social. Objetivo Explorar la posible asociacion entre trastorno por deficit de atencion e hiperactividad y comportamiento suicida en una poblacion de adolescentes. Metodos Estudio observacional analitico de corte a partir de fuente secundaria. Se analizaron variables sociodemograficas, clinicas, de crianza y eventos vitales de 447 adolescentes a quienes se aplico la Compositum International Diagnosis Interview . Se realizo analisis descriptivo y bivariable a traves de odds ratio (OR) y sis intervalos de confianza del 95% (IC95%); las variables con significacion estadistica (p software SPSS ® version 21.0. Resultados El 59,1% eran mujeres, con una mediana [intervalo intercuartilico] de edad de 16 [14-18] anos. El comportamiento suicida se presento en el 31% de las mujeres y el 23% de los varones. Mostraban deficit de atencion el 6,3% de los adolescentes. El analisis de regresion logistica mostro que las variables que mejor explicaban el comportamiento suicida de los adolescentes fueron: el sexo femenino, el trastorno de estres postraumatico, el trastorno de panico y el consumo de cocaina con trastorno por estres postraumatico. Conclusiones El diagnostico y la intervencion temprana del deficit de atencion e hiperactividad en ninos puede ser una estrategia util en la prevencion del comportamiento suicida en la adolescencia.

The availability of updated information of regional wind fields is fundamental for an efficient management and prediction of wind power production. The present paper proposes a regional wind monitoring system based on the integration of different meteorological nets as a direct way to obtain this information. Concretely, we describe a monitoring system for the region of Andalusia supported by 198 stations, able to provide near surface wind field estimations with updating period of 10 min. Each of these stations has different characteristics since they are focused on measuring different environmental parameters, and most of them are below the quality level required by the World Meteorological Organization for wind measurement. Despite this drawback, the proposed monitoring system takes advantage of the high density of measurement points to produce valuable descriptions of the regional wind field. A basic geostatistical model coupled to the system achieves better results than Numerical Weather Prediction models, obtaining RMSE values of 1.52 m/s and 64.9° for speed and directional series respectively. The test confirms the tolerance of this massive monitoring system to data without quality assurance, being an interesting platform to implement crowdsourcing methodologies.

This paper deals with a novel application of the Spectral Kurtosis (SK) in power-quality modeling and analysis. The two major advantages of this three-spectral analysis are: robustness to noise and the capability to detect nonlinearities, as impulsive-like signals. The first aim is to study some of the theoretical aspects of the SK estimation, performing a connection to the power-quality event analysis. Then, real-life situations’ performances are presented to correlate results with synthetics. Despite the fact the limited resolution in the frequency domain (to gain computation speed), the method presents an accuracy of 84% over real-life registers.

This paper presents the performance results of a Virtual Instrument (VI) based in Case-Based Reasoning (CBR), conceived to online monitor the power-quality. The PC-based instrument receives data through a DAQ board and a differential probe, while maintaining economy by eliminating the extra network construction and hardware. Being flexible, presents an user-friendly interface and a large data storage capacity, since it uses the hard disk. The computational guts of the instrument are based in third and fourth-order statistics (along with the variance), which enhance detection capability and reject noise influence. A time-domain sliding window sweeps the register under test and offers a time-variation pattern which reflects the deviation of the statistical estimator with respect to the steady state. This three-valued time-series comprises variance, skewness and kurtosis evolution, and constitutes a triple input to the innovative CBR module, which in turn is capable of distinguishing electrical anomalies among five categories (the sixth is reserved to the healthy signal): non-50 Hz, 50-Hz-asymmetrical, 50-symmetrical non-sinusoidal, swell and sag. Online surveillance tests developed over the local electrical network show acceptable accuracy (96%).

Androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and benign prostatic hyperplasia are both androgen-dependent entities that respond to the blocking of 5-alpha-reductase.The objective of this study was to determine whether prostatic volumes and urinary flow changes were higher in patients with early-onset AGA than in healthy control subjects.This was an observational case-control study of 87 men: 45 with early-onset AGA diagnosed in the dermatology department and 42 control subjects. End-point variables were prostatic volume, measured by transrectal ultrasound, and urinary flow, measured by urinary flowmetry. A hormone study was performed on all participants, and the International Prostate Symptom Score and International Index of Erectile Function score were determined.The groups did not significantly differ in mean age (cases, 52.7 years vs control subjects, 49.8 years; P = .12). Patients with AGA had significantly higher mean prostate volume (29.65 vs 20.24 mL, P.0001), International Prostate Symptom Score (4.93 vs 1.23, P.0001), and prostate-specific antigen value (1.53 vs 0.94 ng/mL, P.0001) and significantly lower maximum urinary flow (14.5 vs 22.45 mL/s, P.0001) versus control subjects. Binary logistic regression analysis showed a strong association between the presence of AGA and benign prostatic hyperplasia after adjusting for age, urinary volume, urination time, International Prostate Symptom Score, abdominal obesity, glucose levels, systolic blood pressure, insulin levels, fibrinogen, and C-reactive protein (odds ratio = 5.14, 95% confidence interval 1.23-47.36, P = .041).The study of larger sample sizes would facilitate stratified analyses according to the Ebling type of androgenetic alopecia.There is a relationship between the presence of AGA and prostate growth-associated urinary symptoms, likely attributable to their pathophysiological similarity. This study suggests that early-onset AGA may be an early marker of urinary/prostatic symptomatology. Future studies may clarify whether treatment of patients with AGA may benefit the concomitant benign prostatic hypertrophy, which would be present at an earlier stage in its natural evolution.

Resumen El consumo de cannabis por los adolescentes y jovenes produce efectos negativos sobre su salud biopsicosocial, ya sea de modo temporal, porque esta sustancia disminuye la funcion normal del cerebro, por efecto inmediato del consumo y como depresor del sistema nervioso central, o de forma permanente, cuando el toxico ha generado cambios estructurales y danos graves en el tejido cerebral. En este articulo pretendemos mostrar los efectos del consumo de cannabis en el lenguaje y la comunicacion a partir de los resultados obtenidos mediante la observacion y el analisis de casos en tratamiento por consumo de esta sustancia. Los jovenes observados tenian edades comprendidas entre los 16 y los 22 anos. Haremos, para ello, referencia a algunos aspectos que rodean esta situacion, entre estos: los datos de consumo que nos permiten conocer la extension poblacional a la que afecta este problema; las caracteristicas de la sustancia y la edad de inicio como factor determinante de la aparicion y gravedad de las consecuencias en el lenguaje y la comunicacion, en proceso de evolucion y continuo aprendizaje, a traves de la interaccion social; la facilidad de acceso de la poblacion joven a una droga ilegal; algunos de los efectos y riesgos del consumo como consecuencia de su efecto sobre el sistema nervioso central; los elementos necesarios que intervienen en el aprendizaje que se ven directamente afectados por el consumo de cannabis; la influencia del consumo de cannabis en el lenguaje y la comunicacion interpersonal. El articulo finaliza con la repercusion, en estos aspectos concretos, observados a traves de los casos de jovenes en tratamiento.

Objective Low serum uric acid (UA) levels have been associated with a worse cognitive function later in life and also with a higher risk and faster progression of Parkinson's disease (PD). Here we studied whether serum UA levels and the genetic variants related to its variability are associated with the presence of dementia in a cohort of patients with PD. Methods The study included 343 PD patients, which were examined for the presence of dementia according to the MDS Task Force criteria (level 1). The predominant PD phenotype and UPDRS-III and Hoehn-Yahr scales were recorded. Serum UA levels were determined in each participant. Genotyping of SLC2A9 rs734553, ABCG2 rs2231142, SLC17A1 rs1183201, SLC22A11 rs17300741, SLC22A12 rs505802, GCKR rs780094, PDZK1 rs12129861, LRRC16A + SCGN rs742132, and SLC16A9 rs12356193 was carried out by Taqman analysis. For each subject we calculated a cumulative genetic risk score (GRS), defined as the total number of risk alleles (range 2–15) associated to lower serum UA levels. Results 72 out of 343 PD patients (21%) presented dementia. Serum UA levels were not different between PD patients with or without dementia. No significant association was detected between any single SNP and the risk of PD-dementia. When we analyzed the combined effect of the eight SNPs using the cumulative GRS no significant association between the number of risk alleles and the risk of PD was observed. Conclusions Our data suggest that serum UA levels have not a significant impact on the risk of dementia in PD.

La introduccion de la tomografia por emision de positrones (PET) en el manejo del paciente con enfermedad neoplasica en neumologia supuso un importante cambio respecto a los algoritmos clasicamente basados solo en la anatomia que ofrecia la tomografia computarizada (TC). El carcinoma pulmonar no microcitico y el nodulo pulmonar solitario fueron las 2 enfermedades donde mayor rendimiento diagnostico ofrecio la imagen metabolica PET, como ha quedado demostrado tras su reciente incorporacion a la cartera de servicios comunes del Sistema Nacional de Salud. Sin embargo, la falta de delimitacion anatomica de la imagen PET conllevaba una serie de limitaciones que habian sido descritas en la literatura medica. La aparicion de los equipos hibridos PET-TC en 2001 ayudo no solo a corregir estos defectos, sino que ademas, al unir la informacion anatomica y metabolica en una sola imagen, ha hecho que esta tecnologia sea la mas valiosa dentro del arsenal diagnostico actual.

Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) BF intersubtype recombinant viruses are common in Argentina and Uruguay, where CRF12_BF and related recombinants are frequently found, and, in a lower proportion, in Brazil. Full-length genome sequences have been characterized in several of these recombinant viruses. Here, we analyze six newly derived near full-length genome sequences of BF recombinant viruses, three from Chile, one from Venezuela and two from Spain. Five of them had known epidemiological links to Argentina. Genomes were amplified by PCR from plasma RNA or from peripheral blood mononuclear cells’ DNA. Mosaic structures and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed by bootscanning, neighbour-joining phylogenetic trees and by examination of subtype signature nucleotides. One virus from Spain had a mosaic structure fully coincident with CRF12_BF. The others had unique mosaic structures, except the viruses from two Chilean sisters infected vertically from the same mother, who showed identical recombination patterns. Each of the unique recombinants had one to six breakpoints coincident with CRF12_BF and three also had two or three breakpoints coincident with a previously characterized unique recombinant from Argentina (A025) related to CRF12_BF. A phylogenetic tree of concatenated subtype F segments supported the relationship of five recombinants with CRF12_BF. In trees of partial subtype F and B segments, four recombinants clustered with A025. The examination of CRF12_BF signature amino acids and nucleotides supported the common ancestry of all the analyzed viruses. Based on these results, a model of generation of HIV-1 BF recombinants of Argentinean ancestry by successive rounds of recombination along diverse lineages deriving from a common BF recombinant ancestor related to CRF12_BF is proposed.