Search

Despite the progress achieved in recent decades, tuberculosis continues to be a major public health problem in wide areas of the world geography, and caused more than 1.6 million deaths in 2017. The eruption of cases with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis and extremely resistant hinders its healing and its progressive eradication. Fortunately, in the past few years, molecular techniques capable of diagnosing the disease in a few hours have been introduced, also detecting genetic mutations that encode resistance to the most active drugs in its cure. With the incorporation of bedaquiline and delamanide, we count on new shorter, more effective and less toxic treatment schemes for resistant cases. The future of the fight against tuberculosis must be based on clinical suspicion in the most vulnerable groups (elderly, immunosuppressed and immigrants), an accurate and early diagnosis, a short treatment with oral drugs and the inclusion of solidarity socioeconomic strategies that improve the situation of the most vulnerable countries and groups., A pesar de los avances obtenidos en las últimas décadas, la tuberculosis sigue siendo un importante problema de salud pública en amplias zonas de la geografía mundial, y produjo más de 1,6 millones de muertes en 2017. La irrupción de casos con tuberculosis multirresistente y extremadamente resistente dificulta su curación y su progresiva erradicación. Afortunadamente, en los últimos años se han introducido técnicas moleculares capaces de diagnosticar la enfermedad en pocas horas, detectando también mutaciones genéticas que codifican resistencias a los fármacos más activos en su curación. Con la incorporación de la bedaquilina y la delamanida contamos con nuevos esquemas de tratamiento más cortos y eficaces, así como menos tóxicos, para los casos resistentes. El futuro de la lucha contra la tuberculosis debe basarse en la sospecha clínica en los grupos más vulnerables (ancianos, inmunodeprimidos e inmigrantes), el diagnóstico preciso y precoz, el tratamiento corto con fármacos orales y la incorporación de estrategias socioeconómicas solidarias que mejoren la situación de los países y colectivos más vulnerables.

Despite the progress made in the last years, the Tuberculosis remains a relevant public health problem in many geographic areas of the world. Tuberculosis is the paradigm of infectious disease with a high social component, and in its approach, measures aimed at reducing poverty, economic inequality and the integration of the most vulnerable groups cannot be ignored. Therefore, solidarity and social justice are terms associated with the control of this disease. The TBS Network, made up of various institutions born from civil society, tries to inform society and professionals about aspects of tuberculosis prevention, control, diagnosis, treatment and investigation, trying to avoid the stigma that still accompanies many patients. Among the activities organized by the TBS Network are, among others, the Solidarity Cinema Forum (in prisons, Cruz Roja premises and NGOs), Informa TB and Update Days., A pesar de los avances obtenidos en los últimos años, la tuberculosis sigue siendo un problema relevante de salud pública en muchas zonas geográficas del mundo. La tuberculosis es el paradigma de enfermedad infecciosa con un alto componente social, y en su abordaje no pueden soslayarse las medidas tendentes a disminuir la pobreza, las desigualdades económicas y la integración de los colectivos más vulnerables. Por ello, la solidaridad y la justicia social son términos asociados al control de esta enfermedad. La Red TBS, integrada por diversas instituciones nacidas de la sociedad civil, intenta informar a la sociedad y a los profesionales sobre aspectos de prevención, control, diagnóstico, tratamiento e investigación de la tuberculosis, intentando evitar el estigma que acompaña todavía a muchos pacientes. Entre las actividades que organiza la Red TBS se encuentran, entre otras, el Cinefórum Solidario (en prisiones, locales de Cruz Roja y ONGs), Informa TB y Jornadas de Actualización.

Two step water-splitting cycles by using metal ferrites are considered as a clean and sustainable hydrogen production method, when concentrated solar energy is used to drive the thermochemical reactions. This process involves the reduction at very high temperature of the ferrite, followed by the water reoxidation to the original phase at moderate temperature, with the release of hydrogen. In order to decrease the temperature required to decompose the oxide, mixed ferrites of the type MFeO with spinel crystal structure have been examined. In this sense, ferrites with the partial substitution of Co and Ni for Fe appear as successful materials in terms of hydrogen production and cyclability. In this work, commercial Ni and synthetic Co ferrites have been subjected to two water splitting cycles. The solid products obtained after thermal reduction and water decomposition reactions have been chemically and structurally characterized by WDXRF, XRD, XPS and SEM techniques, in order to get a deeper understanding of the mechanisms controlling the water splitting process. This knowledge contributes to improve the process involved in thermochemical cycles and to understand the lower efficiencies (H/O) for Co ferrite thermochemical cycles in comparison with those corresponding to Ni ferrite.

Water splitting thermochemical cycles based on metal oxide systems and using concentrated solar energy is a promising and sustainable clean process for hydrogen production. In this work, the capability of Ni and Co powder ferrites for hydrogen production via two step redox processes has been tested. In order to avoid decreasing of the hydrogen release with the number of cycles due to powder sintering, a simple handmade pellet preparation has been used. Then, samples in the forms of pellets or powders were tested for the water splitting reaction under the same experimental conditions, and the amount of hydrogen generated in each case has been compared. Results show that pellet samples maintain their shape after the cycling process, although higher hydrogen production rate is obtained for Ni ferrite powder samples. This study also includes a thorough chemical, structural and morphological characterization of the samples after thermochemical cycling.