Search

Background: Studies are needed to better understand bronchial thermoplasty (BT) effects in patients with severe obstructive asthma (low FEV1) or in whom systemic corticosteroids are used, and its long-term benefits and safety. BT validation studies have usually excluded this more severe patients Objective: To assess effectiveness and safety of BT in very severe asthma patients. Methods: Review of 22 BT patients. 14 Patients with FEV1 10 mg per day, were considered more severe. Results: 62 BT procedures with 20 adverse events mild to moderate and 8 severe (severe exacerbations or lobar complete atelectasis). 68% had no adverse events, 32% had mild or moderate and 13% severe. There were no differences in mild-moderate complications in both groups. One patient in each group discontinued treatment after a severe exacerbation, after the first procedure. Although no statistical difference was obtained, an incidence of severe complications of 17% in the most severe group was observed, with a 4.3% in the less severe one (p=0.243) Conclusions: BT reduced emergency department visits and provided improvement in quality of life. BT is a safe procedure. No statistically significant differences were detected, although there may be a trend to increased risk of severe exacerbations in the more severe group.

En el sistema socioeconómico actual, heredero de las revoluciones industriales, los sujetos-objeto son valiosos en tanto que productos, puesto que son los individuos los objetos de transacción. El hombre actual es el target para un sinfín de empresas de todo tipo. No hay mejor definición que el término anglosajón que se traduce como diana u objetivo. Los productos, servicios, ideas, etc. que se comercializan son meros medios para alcanzar al verdadero producto: el hombre. La presente investigación aborda un estudio semiótico sobre una muestra de publicidad televisiva actual, con el fin de analizar la disolución de las diferencias entre los sujetos y objetos que aparecen en el discurso publicitario. Todo ello conlleva la aparente desaparición de las diferencias de clase y la existencia efectiva subyacente de las desigualdades sociales. La publicidad actual, su discurso, nos guía hacia el éxito social simulado, pero apostilla la discriminación real a través de su entramado ideológico.

El discurso publicitario añade al flujo informativo una carga persuasiva, que se traduce en el intento de conquistar al receptor mediante la creación de expectativas que modifiquen nuestra experiencia de placer. El imaginario publicitario proyecta una perspectiva vital que trasciende nuestra vida cotidiana y que, a pesar de ser inasequible para la mayoría de receptores, se convierte en una pauta a seguir, a alcanzar. Sin embargo, todo imaginario publicitario, que es imposible, inaccesible para la mayoría, sólo es viable a través de la generación de sucedáneos: objetos, servicios, experiencias, vidas con los que nos conformamos o resignamos. Por tanto, es este un efecto emocional inherente al mensaje publicitario, que se desmontaría en el momento en el que el receptor hiciera uso exclusivo de su capacidad racional, con lo que el discurso se convertiría en información desnuda de todo artificio. Se daría paso a la antipublicidad.

Decolourisation of synthetic and real textile wastewater containing benzidine-based azo dyes was carried out using dark Fenton reaction and solar driven photo-Fenton process. Experimental runs with synthetic wastewater were used to identify the best conditions to perform real wastewater decolourisation. It was found that, using solar energy to promote the advanced oxidation process (AOP) proposed, the reaction kinetic is increased by almost twice, compared with dark Fenton reaction. With solar driven photo-Fenton, decolourisation of 90% was achieved using 1 mM of Fe 2+ and 50 mM of H 2 O 2 with only 12 kJ/L. When these conditions were tested for real wastewater, 56% of colour removal was obtained and 62.6% of the organic matter found initially in the effluent (measured as chemical oxygen demand, COD) was eliminated after 16 kJ/L. The collector area per mass ( A CM ), a figure-of-merit proposed by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) was calculated as scaling-up parameter in order to find out the actual solar collecting area required to treat 100 L of wastewater under the proposed conditions. Depending on the wastewater type and effluent application after the photoassisted process, it was found that effluents with the characteristics of synthetic wastewater tested in this work can be completely decoloured using 4 m 2 in 1 h of solar irradiation. For the case of real wastewater, if coupling the photoassisted process to a biological method, treatment of 100 L can be carried out using 7 m 2 of solar collectors.

It has been previously demonstrated that zinc aluminates are useful additive materials for gasoline sulfur reduction. To enquire about the nature of the catalyst active site in Zn aluminates, in the present work, [Zn ( x ) 2+ Mg (1− x ) 2+ ]Al 2 O 4 , ternary spinels with 0 ≤ x ≤ 1 were synthesized to obtain samples with different Lewis acidity. The Zn–Mg–Al spinels were tested as FCC sulfur reduction additives, using the elimination of sulfur from thiophene at 793 K as model test. The thiophene conversion with the Zn–Al spinel was higher than with ternary Zn–Mg–Al spinels or the commercial cracking catalyst. It was found that although to a small extent, the Zn-free Mg–Al spinel converted thiophene. The IR study on the adsorption of CO 2 over Zn–Mg–Al spinels with different amounts of Zn and over ZnO suggested that: (i) no strong Lewis sites are located on Zn and (ii) the Lewis acidity of the ternary spinels is due to aluminum sites and increases with the Zn content. So, it appears that the Lewis acid sites located on aluminum are responsible for the adsorption of thiophene and that one of the benefits of Zn incorporation is the increase of this acidity, which would lead to increased adsorption and reactivity.

Mycetoma is defined as a fungus ball that fills a preexisting lung cavity, most frequently being of tuberculous or sarcoid etiology. The most frequently isolated fungus is the species of Aspergillus, but other fungi such as Fusarium or Zygomycetes can also be present. Most patients lack symptoms. However, presentation may also be with hemoptysis, which can be massive and life-threatening. We describe the case of a 50-year-old man with a history of prior pulmonary tuberculosis, with recurrent episodes of cough and hemoptysis. He was diagnosed to have mycetoma in the left upper lobe cavity. The mycetoma was extracted through bronchoscopy under general anesthesia using a cryoprobe. Treatment was completed with amphotericin B instilled in the cavity and the patient was placed on oral itraconazole. This is the first case report to date in which cryotherapy was used to remove a mycetoma.

The Being Student tests recognize the characteristics of the students of the National Education System in relation to their knowledge. It allows the evaluated ones to know what situation they entail in the learning standards of each level, and was issued by the Ministry of Education. This therefore is aimed at knowing the level of learning achieved according to the Quality Standards issued by the Ministry of Education for this level. It is also in relation to their knowledge and reasoning skills. These instruments, according to their results, have allowed the Social Categorization of Educational Units at the National level, evidencing that the Educational Institutions of the Bolivar Province, especially the Guaranda Canton, are not within the first places of this social recognition. As a result, this implies that the fiscal education process up to this level is not meeting the standards of educational quality within the domain of knowledge. The objective of this study is to characterize how the fiscal education process influences the results of the student tests at the seventh year of basic general education. The unit of analysis is the educational process and the unit of observation is a student for each subject of each fiscal institution studied. The present research uses both quantitative and qualitative approach. This type of research is a documentary, bibliographical, and field research since it analyzed the notebooks of theoretical notes of duties, use of the official books for the academic period 2016 - 2017, and corrections of written tests and their structure which serves as the key elements to determine and conceptualize the academic process.

En el relato publicitario hay dos componentes principales con los que el receptor se identifica. Son el cronotopo y los personajes estereotipados. El objetivo del presente trabajo es analizar cómo estas dos categorías narrativas imponen límites en el proceso de decodificación por parte de la audiencia. Para ello, desarrollamos un análisis de contenido de 612 anuncios televisivos (2009-2013). Los resultados nos muestran que escenarios y relaciones representados ofrecen al receptor esperanzas de una vida mejor; ofrecen un mundo de ficción que permite a los individuos identificarse con el sueño de experiencias que mejoran sus condiciones actuales. Aunque estas nuevas experiencias solo son posibles mediante el consumo de los objetos publicitados.

En el contexto de crisis que vive la España del año 2014, las estrategias de comunicación de empresas e instituciones han cambiado se han adaptado a la escasez de recursos. En este contexo, las penurias económicas y la caída de la inversión publicitaria han protagonizado la esfera de la industria de la comunicación. Posiblemente, se ha agudizado el ingenio con el objetivo de comunciar mejor con menos recursos. La obra How to get your message across: Últimas tendencias creativas y procesos de innovación en campañas de comunicación (ISBN: 978-84-616-7400-8), de los profesores Francisco Cabezuelo-Lorenzo (Universidad de Valladolid) y Carlos Fanjul-Peyró (Universitat Jaume I de Castellón) ahonda en este debate emergente y ofrece soluciones prácticas. Para ello, los autores utilizan un tono divulgativo, auqnue enmarcado de una manera eficiente y correcta en el contexto científico de las Ciencias de la Comunicación. Cabezuelo-Lorenzo, Francisco y Fanjul-Peyró, Carlos (2013): How to get your message across: Últimas tendencias creativas y procesos de innovación en campañas de comunicación. Madrid: Fórum XXI, 153 páginas. ISBN: 978-84-616-7400-8

El uso de las redes sociales en internet, ha hecho que las fuentes y los canales informativos estén cambiando. Los periodistas de los principales medios de comunicación españoles, han empezado a utilizar muy proactivamente destacadas redes sociales, en especial la red de microbbloging Twitter. La firma de sus escritos generalmente en géneros periodísticos de opinión, va acompañada en ocasiones por su nick de esta red social, lo que provoca que se convierta en escaparate publicitario de esta red social y de su propia marca personal. La celeridad en la actualización de esta red social digital y su limitación a 140 caracteres, provoca que la información y los titulares sean constantes e inmediatos. Pero no todo es información ¿Quién debe dar la noticia, el periodista o el medio? The use of social networking sites has made the sources and channels of information are changing. Journalists from leading Spanish media, have started using very proactively leading social networks, especially Twitter microbbloging network. The signing of journalistic genres usually written opinion, sometimes accompanied by his nickname of this social network, causing it to become advertising showcase this social network and your own personal brand. The speed in updating this digital social network and its limitation to 140 characters, causing information and headlines are constant and immediate. But not all information Who should deliver the news, journalist or media?

El objetivo de este trabajo es analizar el proceso de comunicación publicitaria en Internet desde una perspectiva cultural. Investigaciones recientes demuestran que este tipo de publicidad genera una comunicación con el receptor-consumidor caracterizada por estallidos cortos, descoordinados y solapados. Desde el método de la argumentación filosófica práctica nos vamos a adentrar en la disección del proceso de cambio de paradigma publicitario para explicar cómo se están modificando los procesos de comunicación publicitaria en Internet.

El presente trabajo desarrolla un estudio sobre el framing informativo que la prensa española realiza en torno a las protestas de los mineros de junio de 2012. Para ello, la investigación despliega un análisis de contenido cuantitativo y cualitativo sobre el tratamiento informativo de dicho acontecimiento a través de los diarios El País, El Mundo y ABC. Los distintos encuadres informativos de estos diarios demuestran un proceso de construcción social por parte de la prensa que se interpreta en términos negativos o positivos, dependiendo de la estructura ideológica del observador. Estos frames ponen de manifiesto la desigual cobertura informativa y la orientación ideológica de los diarios analizados sobre un hecho otrora relevante y trascendental que ha dado lugar a cambios significativos en la estructura sociocultural española a lo largo de la historia. This paper develops a study on the framing of the Spanish press information about the protests of miners produced in June 2012. To this end, this research uses a content analysis on news treatment through the dailies El Pais, El Mundo and ABC. The frames of these dailies show a process of social construction by the press that is interpreted in a negative or positive, depending on the ideological structure of the observer. These frames show the unequal news coverage and prove the ideological orientation of a event which has caused major changes in the Spanish sociocultural structure in the past.

We describe the use of an endoscopy face mask with a perforated membrane, which allows a nasogastric tube for continuous noninvasive ventilation in acute hypercapnic respiratory failure, in 2 patients who developed gastric distention. This interface was able to avoid most nonintentional leaks through the mask, as compared with a conventional approach, improving ventilation efficiency. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of an endoscopy face mask used in noninvasive ventilation for this specific side effect.

Results are reported concerning a 2-year field investigation on municipal wastewater reclamation for the irrigation of two experimental crops: tomato and fennel. Throughout the investigation, approximately 500 m(3) of tertiary membrane filtered wastewater without further disinfection was supplied to one of two parcels (500 m(2) each) of a test field located in Southern Italy. The second parcel was comparatively irrigated with 500 m(3) of conventional well water. Objectives of the investigation were (i) the evaluation of the performance of a membrane filtration pilot plant (productivity = 0.7 m(3) h(-1)) for tertiary treatment and (ii) the comparison between agronomic results (features of soil and crops) after irrigation with reclaimed wastewater versus conventional groundwater. Over long term operation, the pilot plant performance resulted very good in terms of suspended solids and bacterial removal. Referring to the agronomic results, no substantial differences were observed after 2 years, both in terms of microbiological quality of the crops and characteristics of the soil. The whole results indicate membrane filtered municipal effluent as a viable alternative water resource for irrigation.