The analysis of solid environmental samples by α-particle spectrometry generally involves processes requiring an initial treatment to destroy the complexes in the matrix, and dissolve the ...radionuclides of interest. This study compared the activities obtained for several natural radionuclides (238U, 234U, 230Th, 226Ra, and 210Po) in previously well-characterized materials, using two procedures: acid leaching and digestion in a microwave oven. The measured activities were in general very similar for the two procedures, with a strong statistical correlation between the two sets of values.
•Acid leaching and microwave digestion methods for solid samples are compared.•Both techniques are applied to uranium, radium, or polonium in solid samples.•Results using both procedures were similar with high statistical correlation.
SARS‐CoV‐2 infection has produced high mortality in kidney transplant (KT) recipients, especially in the elderly. Until December 2020, 1011 KT with COVID‐19 have been prospectively included in the ...Spanish Registry and followed until recovery or death. In multivariable analysis, age, pneumonia, and KT performed ≤6 months before COVID‐19 were predictors of death, whereas gastrointestinal symptoms were protective. Survival analysis showed significant increasing mortality risk in four subgroups according to recipient age and time after KT (age <65 years and posttransplant time >6 months, age <65 and time ≤6, age ≥65 and time >6 and age ≥65 and time ≤6): mortality rates were, respectively, 11.3%, 24.5%, 35.4%, and 54.5% (p < .001). Patients were significantly younger, presented less pneumonia, and received less frequently specific anti‐COVID‐19 treatment in the second wave (July–December) than in the first one (March–June). Overall mortality was lower in the second wave (15.1 vs. 27.4%, p < .001) but similar in critical patients (66.7% vs. 58.1%, p = .29). The interaction between age and time post‐KT should be considered when selecting recipients for transplantation in the COVID‐19 pandemic. Advanced age and a recent KT should foster strict protective measures, including vaccination.
Older recipients diagnosed with COVID‐19 in the first 6 months after transplantation present the highest risk for a fatal outcome during the second wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic.
Gross alpha and beta indices for water samples are generally measured in environmental radioactivity laboratories. Liquid scintillation spectrometers can be used to determine these indices but ...different factors could affect the measurements. Several scintillation cocktails and different radionuclides have been used for calibration. Quenching effects must be considered for each cocktail because the results can be different depending of the calibration and cocktail used.
•Gross alpha and beta indices are jointly measured by liquid scintillation.•Four different scintillation cocktails were used: UGAB, HS3, IG and LC.•226Ra, natural uranium, 241Am, 209Po, and 242Pu were used for calibration.•Quenching corrections must be considered for each cocktail.•The choice of the standard and cocktail influences the results.
The angular distribution and differential branching fraction of the decay $B^{0} \to K^{*0} \mu^{+}\mu^{-}$ are studied using a data sample, collected by the LHCb experiment in $pp$ collisions at ...$\sqrt{s}=7\,{\rm TeV}$, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of $1.0\,{\rm fb}^{-1}$. Several angular observables are measured in bins of the dimuon invariant mass squared, $q^{2}$. A first measurement of the zero-crossing point of the forward-backward asymmetry of the dimuon system is also presented. The zero-crossing point is measured to be $q_{0}^{2} = 4.9 \pm 0.9 \,{\rm GeV}^{2}/c^{4}$, where the uncertainty is the sum of statistical and systematic uncertainties. The results are consistent with the Standard Model predictions.
•A fundamental tool to carry out studies on local market approaches is proposed.•A temperature model for better studying thermal and electrical loads is included.•Local markets in isolated microgrids ...depend on the size and number of local agents.
Recently, driven by the increasing concern regarding electricity supply resiliency, literature has paid attention to microgrids (MGs) and their technical performance to ensure a reliable supply, although few papers have addressed the economic behavior of isolated MGs. Recent European projects have launched the proposal of a local market based approach to operate the isolated MG. One of the main concerns of such an approach is whether the small size of such markets may lead to strategic behaviors, although it depends on the number and size of local market agents. This paper presents a mathematical modeling, formulated as a mix complementarity problem (MCP), of the economic planning and operation of isolated MGs, able to represent the impact of agent's strategic behavior through the explicit consideration of conjectures. Although identifying the value of such conjectures for each particular MG is out of scope of this paper, a case study is conducted to analyze the impact on investments and local prices. Besides, it includes a temperature model for buildings, able to consider its thermal inertia and allowing prosumers to take advantage of its demand response (DR) capabilities regarding its thermal and electricity needs. The paper conducts different case studies to illustrate its impact.
Additional contamination when radon is in excess Martín Sánchez, A.; de la Torre Pérez, J.; Ruano Sánchez, A.B. ...
Applied radiation and isotopes,
November 2013, 2013-Nov, 2013-11-00, Letnik:
81
Journal Article
Recenzirano
A study of the behavior of the 222Rn progeny on clothes, skin and hair has been performed in a place with very high radon concentration. In the past, radon concentration was established to be about ...32kBq/m3 in a very high humidity environment inside a tourist cave in Extremadura (Spain). The results show that 222Rn daughters are adhered on clothes, skin and hair, adding some radioactive concentration to that due to radon and its progeny existing in the breathable air.
•Adhered 222Rn progeny was studied in a place with high radon concentration.•Radioactive radon daughters are attached to clothing, skin and hair.•Proper clothing, hat and gloves must be used when radon concentration is high.•A shower with soap is advisable after exposition to high radon concentrations.
Proteoglycans (PGs) represent a large proportion of the components that constitute the extracellular matrix (ECM). They are a diverse group of glycoproteins characterized by a covalent link to a ...specific glycosaminoglycan type. As part of the ECM, heparan sulfate (HS)PGs participate in both physiological and pathological processes including cell recruitment during inflammation and the promotion of cell proliferation, adhesion and motility during development, angiogenesis, wound repair and tumor progression. A key function of HSPGs is their ability to modulate the expression and function of cytokines, chemokines, growth factors, morphogens, and adhesion molecules. This is due to their capacity to act as ligands or co-receptors for various signal-transducing receptors, affecting pathways such as FGF, VEGF, chemokines, integrins, Wnt, notch, IL-6/JAK-STAT3, and NF-κB. The activation of those pathways has been implicated in the induction, progression, and malignancy of a tumor. For many years, the study of signaling has allowed for designing specific drugs targeting these pathways for cancer treatment, with very positive results. Likewise, HSPGs have become the subject of cancer research and are increasingly recognized as important therapeutic targets. Although they have been studied in a variety of preclinical and experimental models, their mechanism of action in malignancy still needs to be more clearly defined. In this review, we discuss the role of cell-surface HSPGs as pleiotropic modulators of signaling in cancer and identify them as promising markers and targets for cancer treatment.
Ferroptosis, an iron-dependent form of non-apoptotic cell death, plays a pivotal role in various diseases and is gaining considerable attention in the realm of endometriosis. Considering the ...classical pathomechanism theories, we hypothesized that ferroptosis, potentially driven by increased iron content at ectopic sites, may contribute to the progression of endometriosis. This retrospective case–control study provides a comprehensive immunohistochemical assessment of the expression and tissue distribution of established ferroptosis markers: GPX4, ACSL4, and TfR1 in endometriosis patients. The case group consisted of 38 women with laparoscopically and histologically confirmed endometriosis and the control group consisted of 18 women with other gynecological conditions. Our study revealed a significant downregulation of GPX4 in stromal cells of endometriosis patients (M = 59.7% ± 42.4 versus 90.0% ± 17.5 in the control group, t (54) = −2.90, p = 0.005). This finding aligned with slightly, but not significantly, higher iron levels detected in the blood of endometriosis patients, using hemoglobin as an indirect predictor (Hb 12.8 (12.2–13.5) g/dL versus 12.5 (12.2–13.4) g/dL in the control group; t (54) = −0.897, p = 0.374). Interestingly, there was no concurrent upregulation of TfR1 (M = 0.7 ± 1.2 versus 0.2 ± 0.4 for EM, t (54) = 2.552, p = 0.014), responsible for iron uptake into cells. Our empirical findings provide support for the involvement of ferroptosis in the context of endometriosis. However, variances in expression patterns within stromal and epithelial cellular subsets call for further in-depth investigations.
Several studies support the hypothesis that scabies is on the rise in Spain. There are also concerns about the possible development of resistance to treatment and an increase in atypical ...presentations. The aims of this study were to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of patients with scabies seen by dermatologists in Spain, to identify the possible emergence of atypical forms of scabies, and to explore the frequency of treatment failures and associated risk factors.
We conducted an observational, cross-sectional, multicenter study of data collected prospectively in April and May 2023 using the CLINI-AEDVp platform created by the Spanish Academy of Dermatology and Venereology (AEDV).
Participating dermatologists from 31 hospitals in 15 of Spain's autonomous communities recorded 186 cases of active scabies (51% in women) during the study period. A diagnostic certainty level of A, B or C as per the International Alliance for the Control of Scabies Consensus Criteria was required for diagnosis. Overall, 92% of patients had typical scabies and 66% had already been treated with a scabicide for the current episode. Of the treated patients, only 36% had received and completed adequate treatment (including the simultaneous treatment of all household members) and 50% had not received clear written recommendations.
In a high proportion of the cases of scabies studied, the patient had already received treatment. In those cases, we observed several remediable shortcomings that could explain why some of these treatments had failed. Remedying these deficiencies should lead to better control of scabies and an improved assessment of the actual effectiveness of currently available scabicides.
Abstract
We introduce the Automatic Learning for the Rapid Classification of Events (ALeRCE) broker, an astronomical alert broker designed to provide a rapid and self-consistent classification of ...large etendue telescope alert streams, such as that provided by the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) and, in the future, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory Legacy Survey of Space and Time (LSST). ALeRCE is a Chilean-led broker run by an interdisciplinary team of astronomers and engineers working to become intermediaries between survey and follow-up facilities. ALeRCE uses a pipeline that includes the real-time ingestion, aggregation, cross-matching, machine-learning (ML) classification, and visualization of the ZTF alert stream. We use two classifiers: a stamp-based classifier, designed for rapid classification, and a light curve–based classifier, which uses the multiband flux evolution to achieve a more refined classification. We describe in detail our pipeline, data products, tools, and services, which are made public for the community (see
https://alerce.science
). Since we began operating our real-time ML classification of the ZTF alert stream in early 2019, we have grown a large community of active users around the globe. We describe our results to date, including the real-time processing of 1.5 × 10
8
alerts, the stamp classification of 3.4 × 10
7
objects, the light-curve classification of 1.1 × 10
6
objects, the report of 6162 supernova candidates, and different experiments using LSST-like alert streams. Finally, we discuss the challenges ahead in going from a single stream of alerts such as ZTF to a multistream ecosystem dominated by LSST.
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