Energy performance and thermal comfort in historic and traditional urban environments are important because of the social and cultural requirement to conserve these areas as living entities, but also ...for the environmental obligation to decrease the impact of existing buildings globally. The objective of ENERPAT approach is to address this global challenge from the local perspective, through the co-creation of efficient solutions that improve the energy performance of historic areas considering local techniques and skills, taking into account the whole life cycle of the solutions, and supporting local economy and business. The objective is to test the efficiency and suitability of eco-renovation strategies that have been co-created with local stakeholders and are based on traditional energy conservation measures, as a way to work with locally-based business models that can safeguard cultural aspects and enable economic development. Two living labs have been established in the cities of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Spain) and Cahors (France) in two representative buildings of the historic urban area of each city. The living labs operate as inclusive multi-agent discussion arenas with a long-term vision, where multi-criteria co-creation processes are implemented to select conservation-friendly solutions based on local materials including criteria such as operational energy, impact on heritage values, quality of life, socio-economic development and easy logistics. The energy behaviour of the buildings and the hygrothermal performance of the external walls have been studied using on-site and laboratory experiments, through an efficient partnership between local authorities and universities. Likewise, local-based refurbishment solutions that were designed in the co-creation processes have been thermally characterised in the laboratory, through thermal conductivity and guarded hot box tests. Finally, the energy improvement of the whole renovation strategy has been simulated showing the enhancement of the two buildings.
•Energy efficiency of historic centres through eco-renovation and vernacular culture.•Energy transition based on co-creation and evolutionary development.•Urban labs to merge evidence-based knowledge with socio-economic considerations.•Architectural heritage is broadened to include traditional techniques.•Results of the co-creation process are tested with experimental and numerical work.
Differential diagnosis between Parkinson's disease (PD) and atypical parkinsonisms (APs: multiple system atrophyMSA, progressive supranuclear palsyPSP, corticobasal degenerationCBD) remains ...challenging. Lately, cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) studies of neurofilament light-chain (NFL) and RT-QuIC of alpha-synuclein (α-SYN) have shown promise, but data on their combination with MRI measures is lacking.
(1) to assess the combined diagnostic ability of CSF RT-QuIC α-SYN, CSF NFL and midbrain/pons MRI planimetry in degenerative parkinsonisms; (2) to evaluate if biomarker-signatures relate to clinical diagnoses and whether or not unexpected findings can guide diagnostic revision.
We collected demographic and clinical data and set up α-SYN RT-QuIC at our lab in a cross-sectional cohort of 112 participants: 19 control subjects (CSs), 20PD, 37MSA, 23PSP, and 13CBD cases. We also determined CSF NFL by ELISA and, in 74 participants (10CSs, 9PD, 26MSA, 19PSP, 10CBD), automatized planimetric midbrain/pons areas from 3T-MRI.
Sensitivity of α-SYN RT-QuIC for PD was 75% increasing to 81% after revisiting clinical diagnoses with aid of biomarkers. Sensitivity for MSA was 12% but decreased to 9% with diagnostic revision. Specificities were 100% against CSs, and 89% against tauopathies raising to 91% with diagnostic revision. CSF NFL was significantly higher in APs. The combination of biomarkers yielded high diagnostic accuracy (PD vs. non-PD AUC = 0.983; MSA vs. non-MSA AUC = 0.933; tauopathies vs. non-tauopathies AUC = 0.924). Biomarkers-signatures fitted in most cases with clinical classification.
The combination of CSF NFL, CSF RT-QuIC α-SYN and midbrain/pons MRI measures showed high discriminant ability across all groups. Results opposite to expected can assist diagnostic reclassification.
•Combination of CSF NFL, CSF a-SYN RT-QUIC and midbrain/pons MRI planimetry discriminates parkinsonisms.•Biomarkers did not differ between genders and had significant diagnostic accuracy in both women and men.•“Biomarkers signatures” fitted in most cases with clinical classification upon recruitment.•Unexpected biomarker findings led to revise diagnosis or were explained by phenotypic peculiarities in part of the cases.
Next-generation tissue-based biomarkers for immunotherapy will likely include the simultaneous analysis of multiple cell types and their spatial interactions, as well as distinct expression patterns ...of immunoregulatory molecules. Here, we introduce a comprehensive platform for multispectral imaging and mapping of multiple parameters in tumor tissue sections with high-fidelity single-cell resolution. Image analysis and data handling components were drawn from the field of astronomy. Using this "AstroPath" whole-slide platform and only six markers, we identified key features in pretreatment melanoma specimens that predicted response to anti-programmed cell death-1 (PD-1)-based therapy, including CD163
PD-L1
myeloid cells and CD8
FoxP3
PD-1
T cells. These features were combined to stratify long-term survival after anti-PD-1 blockade. This signature was validated in an independent cohort of patients with melanoma from a different institution.
The Spanish and Portuguese-Speaking Working Group of the International Society for Forensic Genetics (GHEP-ISFG) has organized a second collaborative exercise on a simulated case of Disaster Victim ...Identification (DVI), with the participation of eighteen laboratories. The exercise focused on the analysis of a simulated plane crash case of medium-size resulting in 66 victims with varying degrees of fragmentation of the bodies (with commingled remains). As an additional difficulty, this second exercise included 21 related victims belonging to 6 families among the 66 missings to be identified. A total number of 228 post-mortem samples were represented with aSTR and mtDNA profiles, with a proportion of partial aSTR profiles simulating charred remains. To perform the exercise, participants were provided with aSTR and mtDNA data of 51 reference pedigrees —some of which deficient—including 128 donors for identification purposes. The exercise consisted firstly in the comparison of the post-mortem genetic profiles in order to re-associate fragmented remains to the same individual and secondly in the identification of the re-associated remains by comparing aSTR and mtDNA profiles with reference pedigrees using pre-established thresholds to report a positive identification. Regarding the results of the post-mortem samples re-associations, only a small number of discrepancies among participants were detected, all of which were from just a few labs. However, in the identification process by kinship analysis with family references, there were more discrepancies in comparison to the correct results. The identification results of single victims yielded fewer problems than the identification of multiple related victims within the same family groups. Several reasons for the discrepant results were detected: a) the identity/non-identity hypotheses were sometimes wrongly expressed in the likelihood ratio calculations, b) some laboratories failed to use all family references to report the DNA match, c) In families with several related victims, some laboratories firstly identified some victims and then unnecessarily used their genetic information to identify the remaining victims within the family, d) some laboratories did not correctly use “prior odds” values for the Bayesian treatment of the episode for both post-mortem/post-mortem re-associations as well as the ante-mortem/post-mortem comparisons to evaluate the probability of identity. For some of the above reasons, certain laboratories failed to identify some victims. This simulated “DNA-led” identification exercise may help forensic genetic laboratories to gain experience and expertize for DVI or MPI in using genetic data and comparing their own results with the ones in this collaborative exercise.
•The GHEP-ISFG has designed a second “DNA-led” DVI exercise in a simulated air crash.•This exercise can be useful for testing DVI using the data and results provided.•The exercise is focused on direct matching and kinship analysis in a Bayesian framework.•This exercise sheds light on problems that a laboratory can face in DVI scenarios.
Niemann–Pick disease (NPD) types A and B are autosomal, recessively inherited, lysosomal storage disorders caused by deficient activity of acid sphingomyelinase (E.C. 3.1.4.12) because of mutations ...in the sphingomyelin phosphodiesterase‐1 (SMPD1) gene. Here, we present the molecular analysis and clinical characteristics of 15 NPD type A and B patients. Sequencing the SMDP1 gene revealed eight previously described mutations and seven novel mutations including four missense c.682T>C (p.Cys228Arg), c.1159T>C (p.Cys387Arg), c.1474G>A (p.Gly492Ser), and c.1795C>T (p.Leu599Phe), one frameshift c.169delG (p.Ala57Leufs*20) and two splicing (c.316+1G>T and c.1341delG). The most frequent mutations were p.Arg610del (21%) and p.Gly247Ser (12%). Two patients homozygous for p.Arg610del and initially classified as phenotype B showed different clinical manifestations. Patients homozygous for p.Leu599Phe had phenotype B, and those homozygous for c.1341delG or c.316+1G>T presented phenotype A. The present results provide new insight into genotype/phenotype correlations in NPD and emphasize the difficulty of classifying patients into types A and B, supporting the idea of a continuum between these two classic phenotypes.
BACKGROUND: Spinal tuberculosis (STB), or Pott’s disease, is a relatively frequent form of extrapulmonary involvement representing 50% of bone tuberculosis. Its diagnosis continues to be challenging ...due to the insidious presentation of the condition and is essential because it can cause disability due to late diagnosis or inadequate management. CASE REPORT: The objective of this study is to report a case of Pott’s disease due to multidrug-resistant bacilli in a pediatric patient who required surgical management with pharmacological support in a tertiary care pediatric hospital. The management of these deformities is surgical; however, with new technologies and techniques in spinal surgery, the best approach for this type of patient has been discussed, whether it should be anterior, posterior, or mixed. In our case, a 360° approach was necessary due to the magnitude of the deformity with a favorable postoperative period with good tolerance to antituberculosis drugs without additional neurological deficit. CONCLUSIONS: Pott’s disease due to multidrug-resistant bacilli continues to be a challenge thanks to the insidious presentation of the condition. However, there is no consensus regarding the best surgical approach for patients with the presented characteristics.
La marchitez vascular causada por Fusarium oxysporum en Phaseolus vulgaris (frijol común) es un problema fitosanitario que afecta directamente al rendimiento y economía de los agricultores, para su ...control se usan productos químicos de contacto; sin embargo, una alternativa a este uso es el biocontrol, empleando organismos promotores de crecimiento vegetal (PGPR) con buena capacidad antagónica. En este trabajo se comparó géneros bacterianos con características PGPR; Bacillus (Bacillus sp. “a”, Bacillus sp. “b”, Rhizobium (CIAT 899), Actinobacteria (Streptomyces sp.), Prochloraz como control químico y los formulados con Azotobacter sp., y Bacillus subtilis como controles positivos. Se presentaron como mejores candidatos a PGPR y biocontroladores las cepas de Bacillus“a” y Actinobacteria, con una severidad de 1 y 3 grados, incidencia antagónica de 61.54 y 76.93%, peso seco de 0.42 y 0.31g y una longitud total de 17.23 y18 cm, respectivamente. El objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar el biocontrol frente a F. oxysporum generado por bacterias tipo PGPR.
Abstract
Neutron capture cross sections are one of the fundamental nuclear data in the study of the s (slow) process of nucleosynthesis. More interestingly, the competition between the capture and ...the decay rates in some unstable nuclei determines the local isotopic abundance pattern. Since decay rates are often sensible to temperature and electron density, the study of the nuclear properties of these nuclei can provide valuable constraints to the physical magnitudes of the nucleosynthesis stellar environment. Here we report on the capture cross section measurement of two thallium isotopes,
204
Tl and
205
Tl performed by the time-of-flight technique at the n TOF facility at CERN. At some particular stellar s-process environments, the decay of both nuclei is strongly enhanced, and determines decisively the abundance of two s-only isotopes of lead,
204
Pb and
205
Pb. The latter, as a long-lived radioactive nucleus, has potential use as a chronometer of the last s-process events that contributed to final solar isotopic abundances.
Neutron capture cross sections are one of the fundamental nuclear data in the study of the s (slow) process of nucleosynthesis. More interestingly, the competition between the capture and the decay ...rates in some unstable nuclei determines the local isotopic abundance pattern. Since decay rates are often sensible to temperature and electron density, the study of the nuclear properties of these nuclei can provide valuable constraints to the physical magnitudes of the nucleosynthesis stellar environment. Here we report on the capture cross section measurement of two thallium isotopes, 204Tl and 205Tl performed by the time-of-flight technique at the n TOF facility at CERN. At some particular stellar s-process environments, the decay of both nuclei is strongly enhanced, and determines decisively the abundance of two s-only isotopes of lead, 204Pb and 205Pb. The latter, as a long-lived radioactive nucleus, has potential use as a chronometer of the last s-process events that contributed to final solar isotopic abundances.
The neutron-induced fission cross section of
235
U, a standard at thermal energy and between 0.15 MeV and 200 MeV, plays a crucial role in nuclear technology applications. The long-standing need of ...improving cross section data above 20 MeV and the lack of experimental data above 200 MeV motivated a new experimental campaign at the n_TOF facility at CERN. The measurement has been performed in 2018 at the experimental area 1 (EAR1), located at 185 m from the neutron-producing target (the experiment is presented by A. Manna et al. in a contribution to this conference). The
235
U(n,f) cross section from 20 MeV up to about 1 GeV has been measured relative to the
1
H(n,n)
1
H reaction, which is considered the primary reference in this energy region. The neutron flux impinging on the
235
U sample (a key quantity for determining the fission events) has been obtained by detecting recoil protons originating from n-p scattering in a C
2
H
4
sample. Two Proton Recoil Telescopes (PRT), consisting of several layers of solid-state detectors and fast plastic scintillators, have been located at proton scattering angles of 25.07° and 20.32°, out of the neutron beam. The PRTs exploit the ΔE-E technique for particle identification, a basic requirement for the rejection of charged particles from neutron-induced reactions in carbon. Extensive Monte Carlo simulations were performed to characterize proton transport through the different slabs of silicon and scintillation detectors, to optimize the experimental set-up and to deduce the efficiency of the whole PRT detector. In this work we compare measured data collected with the PRTs with a full Monte Carlo simulation based on the Geant-4 toolkit.
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