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We study a problem that arises naturally in the discrete quantum computation model introduced in Gatti and Lacalle (Quantum Inf Process 17:192, 2018). Given an orthonormal system of discrete quantum states of level k (k ∈ N) , can this system be extended to an orthonormal basis of discrete quantum states of the same level? This question turns out to be a difficult problem in number theory with very deep implications. In this article, we focus on the simplest version of the problem, 2-qubit systems with integers (instead of Gaussian integers) as coordinates, but with normalization factor p (p ∈ N ∗) , instead of 2 k , being p a prime number. With these simplifications, we prove the following orthogonal version of Lagrange's four-square theorem: Given a prime number p and v 1 , ⋯ , v k ∈ Z 4 , 1 ≤ k ≤ 3 , such that ‖ v i ‖ 2 = p for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k and ⟨ v i | v j ⟩ = 0 for all 1 ≤ i < j ≤ k , then there exists a vector v = (x 1 , x 2 , x 3 , x 4) ∈ Z 4 such that ⟨ v i | v ⟩ = 0 for all 1 ≤ i ≤ k and ‖ v ‖ 2 = x 1 2 + x 2 2 + x 3 2 + x 4 2 = p. This means that, in Z 4 , any system of orthogonal vectors of norm p can be completed to a basis. Besides, we conjecture that the result holds for every integer norm p ≥ 1 and for every space Z n where n ≡ 0 mod 4 , and that the initial question has a positive answer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of a mouthwash based on triclosan in combatting plaque and gingivitis was compared with a mouthwash based on nonsaponifiable maize germ (Zea mays L). Both were used to supplement conventional mechanical oral hygiene. The study was carried out under double-blind conditions with a negative control (a placebo) and a positive control (a mouthwash based on chlorhexidine). After a period of 14 days to allow the Plaque Index and Gingival Index to standardize, the 43 subjects who formed the sample were examined weekly for 3 weeks. During the study, five subjects were excluded because they did not meet the criteria for selection for the study. Although the mouthwash based on triclosan reduced the Plaque Index by 7.3% in comparison with the placebo negative control (a less marked effect than that of chlorhexidine, which achieved an 8.43% reduction), it had scarcely any effect on the Gingival Index. The mouthwash based on Zea mays L had no beneficial action on the Plaque Index, which increased slightly, but it led to an improvement in the Gingival Index (7.17% in comparison with the placebo). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prostatic cancer mortality rates in Spain were analysed for the period 1951-1983 by age groups. Five year interval age cohort trends were also studied. A rising trend was seen over this period of time, although there has been some stabilisation during the recent past. Age cohort analysis shows a generation effect in those cohorts born before 1896, consistent with an increased exposure to environmental and/or occupational factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a general population survey of the patterns of consumption of alcohol in a representative sample of the province of Seville, Spain, are analysed in this article. The proportions of drinkers and abstainers and distribution by age, by sex and by urban-rural residency are discussed. Frequency of consumption declines as age increases in both sexes but the negative slope is more marked in females. Analysis of the results on quantify of alcohol consumed during the week prior to the interview shows that men drink more heavily than women in all age-groups and young people drink more heavily than other age-groups. The combination of data on frequency of consumption and maximum quantity of alcohol reportedly consumed on the highest drinking occasion shows that the majority of men belong to the High Frequency-Low Quantify typology, followed by High Frequency-Medium Quantity, but in women nearly 60% belong to the Low Frequency-Low Quantity typology, followed by High Frequency-Low Quantify. The highest proportions of both abstainers and heavy drinkers are found in the group of people with the lowest income. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing demand for carbon fiber-reinforced parts in the aerospace industry, automated manufacturing methods such as automated fiber placement (AFP) are being established. To utilize AFP’s strong potential on multiple-curved surfaces such as chamfered sandwich structures, it is important to analyze and control emerging effects like gaps, bridging, and steering. An analytical relationship between path generation and effects of the AFP manufacture of chamfered sandwich structures have been found with good agreement to experimental tests. The deformation behavior of an industrially used compaction roller has been analyzed numerically and experimentally. The results show a nonuniform deformation behavior on flat and curved surfaces and the limited deformability of the compaction roller.

The influence of particle size distribution and organic matter on the toxicity of copper was investigated using the nematode Caenorhabditis elegans as test organism. Sediments taken at various depths from three lakes of different trophic status and artificial sediments were spiked with sublethal concentrations of CuSO4. After an exposure of 72 h to spiked sediment or liquid medium, body length of the nematodes was determined. Both artificial and natural sediments reduced the effect of copper, with natural sediments being more effective. In natural sediments worms grew normally at concentrations of copper up to 63.5 mg/L, whereas in artificial sediments body length was reduced at concentrations of 11.3 mg Cu/L or higher. Body length was positively correlated with content of fine particles and organic matter, indicating that particle size distribution and organic matter are determinant factors for the ecotoxicology of sediments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Hyperkeratoses are thickenings of the stratum corneum, provoked by deviation of the ray and excessive plantar pressures. They are very common under the first metatarsal head (MTH) and on the big toe when there exists hallux valgus. The objective of this study was to assess plantar pressures pre- and post-surgery to try to define the threshold values that could determine the appearance of keratopathies., Materials and Methods: Seventy-nine patients (100 feet) who had undergone percutaneous distal soft-tissue release and the Akin procedure were evaluated prospectively. The BioFoot/IBV ® in-shoe system was used for objective baropodometric functional evaluations of the heel, midfoot, first through fifth MTHs, hallux, and lesser toes. The presence or absence of a hyperkeratosis (HK) or plantar callus under the first MTH or hallux was recorded. The average follow-up time at which the measurements were repeated was 28.1 months., Results: Pre-surgery, 62 feet presented a painful HK on the big toe, while post-surgery, only 9 of the feet presented the same lesion. Patients who presented a prior HK at the first metatarsophalangeal (MTP) joint had a mean pressure of 417.2 ± 254.5 kPa as against a value of 359.6 ± 185.1 kPa for the rest. Post-surgery, these values dropped to 409.8 and 346.3 kPa, respectively., Conclusion: Patients with HK presented an 11% greater mean pressure than those without. The values obtained with the BioFoot/IBV ® system in the present study can therefore be considered predictive of the appearance of HK under the first MTH and on the side of the big toe., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Martínez-Nova, Gascó-López de Lacalle, Morán-Cortés, Pedrera-Zamorano and Sánchez-Rodríguez.)

Objectives: The aim of the study was to investigate whether very low level viraemia (VLLV) (20-50 HIV-1 RNA copies/mL) was associated with increased risk of virological failure (VF) as compared with persistent full suppression (< 20 copies/mL)., Methods: From the VACH Cohort database, we selected those patients who started antiretroviral therapy (ART) after January 1997 and who achieved effective viral suppression [two consecutive viral loads (VLs) < 50 copies/mL] followed by full suppression (at least one VL <20 copies/mL). We carried out survival analyses to investigate whether the occurrence of VLLV rather than maintaining full suppression at < 20 copies/mL was associated with virological failure (two consecutive VLs > 200 copies/mL or one VL > 200 copies/mL followed by a change of ART regimen, administrative censoring or loss to follow-up), adjusted for nadir CD4 cell count, sex, age, ethnicity, transmission group, type of ART and time on effective suppression at < 50 copies/mL., Results: Of 21 480 patients who started ART, 13 674 (63.7%) achieved effective suppression at < 50 copies/mL, of whom 4289 (31.4%) further achieved full suppression at < 20 copies/mL after May 2009. A total of 2623 patients (61.1%) remained fully suppressed thereafter, while 1666 had one or more episodes of VL detection > 20 copies/mL (excluding virological failure). A total of 824 patients had VLLV after suppression at < 20 copies/mL. VLLV was not associated with virological failure as compared with persistent full suppression [hazard ratio (HR) 0.67; 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.44-1.00], independently of the number of blips recorded (from one to 18)., Conclusions: In our population of HIV-infected patients on ART who achieved viral suppression at < 20 copies/mL, the risk of virological failure was no different for patients who remained fully suppressed compared with those who experienced subsequent episodes of VLLV., (© 2016 British HIV Association.)

The dermal Panniculus carnosus (PC) muscle is important for wound contraction in lower mammals and represents an interesting model of muscle regeneration due to its high cell turnover. The resident satellite cells (the bona fide muscle stem cells) remain poorly characterized. Here we analyzed PC satellite cells with regard to developmental origin and purported function. Lineage tracing shows that they originate in Myf5(+), Pax3/Pax7(+) cell populations. Skin and muscle wounding increased PC myofiber turnover, with the satellite cell progeny being involved in muscle regeneration but with no detectable contribution to the wound-bed myofibroblasts. Since hematopoietic stem cells fuse to PC myofibers in the absence of injury, we also studied the contribution of bone marrow-derived cells to the PC satellite cell compartment, demonstrating that cells of donor origin are capable of repopulating the PC muscle stem cell niche after irradiation and bone marrow transplantation but may not fully acquire the relevant myogenic commitment., (Copyright © 2016 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Skeletal muscle can be engineered by converting dermal precursors into muscle progenitors and differentiated myocytes. However, the efficiency of muscle development remains relatively low and it is currently unclear if this is due to poor characterization of the myogenic precursors, the protocols used for cell differentiation, or a combination of both. In this study, we characterized myogenic precursors present in murine dermospheres, and evaluated mature myotubes grown in a novel three-dimensional culture system. After 5-7 days of differentiation, we observed isolated, twitching myotubes followed by spontaneous contractions of the entire tissue-engineered muscle construct on an extracellular matrix (ECM). In vitro engineered myofibers expressed canonical muscle markers and exhibited a skeletal (not cardiac) muscle ultrastructure, with numerous striations and the presence of aligned, enlarged mitochondria, intertwined with sarcoplasmic reticula (SR). Engineered myofibers exhibited Na(+)- and Ca(2+)-dependent inward currents upon acetylcholine (ACh) stimulation and tetrodotoxin-sensitive spontaneous action potentials. Moreover, ACh, nicotine, and caffeine elicited cytosolic Ca(2+) transients; fiber contractions coupled to these Ca(2+) transients suggest that Ca(2+) entry is activating calcium-induced calcium release from the SR. Blockade by d-tubocurarine of ACh-elicited inward currents and Ca(2+) transients suggests nicotinic receptor involvement. Interestingly, after 1 month, engineered muscle constructs showed progressive degradation of the myofibers concomitant with fatty infiltration, paralleling the natural course of muscular degeneration. We conclude that mature myofibers may be differentiated on the ECM from myogenic precursor cells present in murine dermospheres, in an in vitro system that mimics some characteristics found in aging and muscular degeneration.

In a context of cost containment and demands for better quality in public health care, payment systems are used as an instrument to promote efficiency improvements in service providers. Andalusia has adopted an original type of risk-adjusted capitation payment mechanism to reimburse public hospitals. This paper presents the main characteristics of the reimbursement mechanism of the Andalusian Health Service highlighting some differences with the mechanisms adopted in other parts of Europe. The paper also explores the evolution of the efficiency and quality of the hospitals after its implementation using the Malmquist index. Results indicate that hospitals have slightly improved their efficiency, particularly urban hospitals, and these improvements are not significantly related to a negative evolution of quality. However, it is not possible to assert to what extent, improvements are the consequence of the new payment system. The organisation of the Servicio Andaluz de Salud and the limited competition between hospitals reduce the effectiveness of the reform.

Hypoxic-ischemic (HI) insult during the perinatal period remains as one of the most common causes of brain injury and produces long-term neurological deficits, and there is a growing need for effective therapies. The aim of the present work was to perform a prospective study designed to assess the possible protector effect of two endocannabinoids: 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2AG) and anandamide (AEA) in the brain after HI injury in perinatal rat model. We evaluate their effects on cell death and check several cellular parameters. 7-days-old Wistar rats were assigned to four different experimental groups (n=7-10): Sham, HI, and HI treated with 2AG or AEA. The injury was induced by the left carotid artery ligature and subsequent exposure to 8% O(2) for 120 min. Immediately after the injury, treated groups received a single dose of 2AG (1mg/kg) or AEA (5mg/kg) and then animals were sacrificed 24, 72 h or 7 days after the HI event. Brains fixed by perfusion were stained with Nissl for morphological studies, and non-fixed brains were dissociated and analyzed by flow cytometry to quantify apoptosis, mitochondrial state, intracellular calcium and reactive oxygen species. Our results show that both 2AG and AEA have beneficial effects after HI injury in this rat model, producing a remarkable amelioration of brain injury, reducing apoptotic cell death, contributing to the maintenance of mitochondrial functionality, and improving cellular parameters such as the influx of calcium and ROS production., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

To minimize as much as possible the neurological consequences from hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury, neuroprotective strategies are urgently required. In this sense, there is growing interest in the neuroprotective potential of melatonin after perinatal asphyxia, due to its high efficacy, low toxicity and ready cross through the blood-brain barrier. Twenty six Wistar rats at postnatal day 7 were randomly assigned to: two hypoxic-ischemic groups: pups with the left common carotid artery ligated and then submitted to hypoxia (HI group) and animals that received a dose of 15 mg/kg melatonin just after the hypoxic-ischemic event and repeated twice with an interval of 24 hours (HI+MEL group). Pups without ischemia or hypoxia were used as controls (Sham group). Seven days after surgery, brains were collected and coronal sections Nissl-stained, TUNEL-labeled, or MBP- and GFAP-immunolabeled prior to determining brain infarct area, quantify surviving neurons and evaluate oligodendroglial injury and reactive astrogliosis. The number of surviving neurons showing a well preserved architecture in HI+MEL group was similar to that observed in the Sham group. Moreover, TUNEL-positive cells only appeared in the HI group. The ratio of left-to-right hemispheric MBP immunostaining showed a significant decrease in the HI group in comparison with Sham pups, which was restored after melatonin administration. Melatonin also reduced reactive gliosis. Thus, our results suggest that treatment with melatonin after neonatal hypoxia-ischemia led to a neuroprotective effect reducing cell death, white matter demyelination and reactive astrogliosis.

Clinical quality (CQ) and patient satisfaction (PS) are key elements on the agenda of European public healthcare systems. This paper seeks to explore the relationship between CQ and PS, at hospital level, as freedom of hospital choice may lead to a trade-off between them. In addition, the paper studies the influence of some factors--location, size, case-mix, length of stay and occupancy rate (OR)--on hospital clinical and perceived quality. Correlation analyses and the linear mixed-effect methodology are used. The study focuses on the Andalusian Health Service, one of the biggest European public health services, and covers the years from 2002 to 2006. The results indicate that CQ and perceived quality are not related. The 'volume-expertise' effect is not confirmed in our study, but we find a 'complexity-expertise' effect, i.e. attending more complex cases may improve CQ. Shorter hospitalizations and higher ORs might negatively affect CQ. Location, size, case-mix and ORs significantly affect PS. Hospitals with better patient assessments might attract patients without providing a better clinical care. Caution should be taken when evaluating hospital performance and implementing reforms to improve hospital efficiency as quality may be harmed., (Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

In some western countries, market-driven reforms to improve efficiency and quality have harmed the performance of some hospitals, occasionally leading to their closure, mostly in rural areas. This paper seeks to explore whether these reforms affect urban and rural hospitals differently in a European health service. Rural and urban hospital performance is compared taking into account their efficiency and perceived quality. The study is focused on the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) in Spain, which has implemented a freedom of hospital choice policy and a reimbursement system based on hospital performance. Data Envelopment Analysis, the Mann-Whitney U test and Multidimensional Scaling techniques are conducted for two years, 2003 and 2006. The results show that rural and urban hospitals perform similarly in the efficiency dimension, whereas rural hospitals perform significantly better than urban hospitals in the patient satisfaction dimension. When the two dimensions are considered jointly, some rural hospitals are found to be the best performers. As such, market-driven reforms do not necessary result in a difference in the performance of rural and urban hospitals., (Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Freedom of hospital choice has become a popular policy among the European public health services to ensure better patient rights, reduce waiting times and improve efficiency and quality in public hospitals. The English National Health Service has recently adopted this policy. This organisation needs to introduce important reforms in order to implement this policy, in particular in the information that it provides to patients. This paper presents the Andalusian Health Service (SAS) initiative in the disclosure of information, based on patient surveys, so it can be understood by patients. Andalusia implemented a freedom of choice policy 10 years ago. This paper also studies how SAS hospitals are scored by patients and how the quality of hospitals may affect their choice. Regression analyses indicate that two hospital dimensions, a 'human dimension' and a 'facilities dimension', significantly explain how patients assess the quality of the Andalusian hospitals. Nonetheless, these two dimensions do not explain the reputation of the hospitals, a main aspect when choosing a hospital, to the same extent. The lessons provided by looking at the SAS experience may give an insightful knowledge on whether patients in England will finally opt for the best hospitals.

We present a case of congenital epulis, diagnosed prenatally with US. Congenital epulis is a benign gingival tumour whose differential diagnosis includes other oral-facial masses such as haemangioma, granular cell myoblastoma and cystic hygroma. This tumour can cause obstruction of the airway or feeding problems in the newborn child. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice.

In the present work, flow cytometry techniques together with morphologic studies were used to perform multiparametric analyses in cell cultures derived from CE44 teratocarcinoma embryoid bodies. The intrinsic cell parameters studied by flow cytometry were size (FALS), cytoplasmic complexity (ISS) and autofluorescence, expressed as LIGFL/FALS (green fluorescence intensity on a logarithmic scale/FALS). Our results showed that CE44 teratocarcinoma yields monolayers whose cells show a marked morphological heterogeneity and can be grouped according to flow cytometric criteria into four populations that remain stable throughout the entire time of culture. Moreover, these populations showed a different immunolabelling with the differentiation markers SSEA-1, TROMA-1 and anti-vimentin.