To improve access to affordable, reliable and sustainable energy in rural areas of the global south, off-grid systems using renewable generation and energy storage are often proposed. However, ...solution design is often technology-driven, with insufficient consideration of social and cultural contexts. This leads to a risk of unintended consequences and inappropriate systems that do not meet local needs. To address this problem, this paper describes the application of a capabilities-led approach to understanding a community’s multi-dimensional energy poverty and assessing their needs as they see them, in order to better design suitable technological interventions. Data were collected in Tlamacazapa, Mexico, through site visits and focus groups with men and women. These revealed the ways in which constrained energy services undermined essential capabilities, including relating to health, safety, relationships and earning a living, and highlighted the specific ways in which improved energy services, such as lighting, cooking and mechanical power could improve capabilities in the specific context of Tlamacazapa. Based on these findings, we propose some potential technological interventions to address these needs. The case study offers an illustration of an assessment method that could be deployed in a variety of contexts to inform the design of appropriate technological interventions.
Objectives. To evaluate the potential of iron-oxide dismutase excreted (SODeCRU) by T. cruzi as the antigen fraction in the serodiagnosis of Chagas disease and compile new epidemiological data on the ...seroprevalence of this disease in the suburban population of the city of Santiago de Querétaro (Mexico). Design and Methods. 258 human sera were analyzed by the techniques of ELISA and Western blot and using the homogenate and the SODeCRU. Results. A total of 31 sera were positive against ELISA/SODeCRU (12.4%), while 30 sera proved positive by WB/SODeCRU (11.6%). The comparison between the technique of ELISA and WB showed a sensitivity of 93%, and a specificity of 99%. The positive predictive value was 93% and the negative predictive value was 99%, with a Kappa (κ) value of 1. Conclusions. These preliminary data reveal the degree of infection of nonrural areas of Mexico and demonstrated that SODeCRU is an antigen useful to diagnose Chagas disease.
Clinical diagnosis of leishmaniasis is highly complex, presenting a wide range of clinical manifestations, sometimes non-specific, and thus the epidemiological study and diagnostic need specific ...molecular markers for each Leishmania species. Leishmania spp. posses different Fe-SOD isoforms, one of which is excreted into the external milieu and, presenting immunogenic characteristics, is a very reliable molecular marker. Superoxide dismutases (SODs) are antioxidant metal-enzymes responsible for the dismutation of superoxide ion into hydrogen peroxide and molecular oxygen, and it is considered an important virulence factor. In this manuscript we have purified the iron(Fe)-SOD excreted by Leishmania braziliensis using ion-exchange and molecular-sieve chromatography and we have studied it as an antigen in serodiagnostic analyses in ELISA and Western blot techniques, testing 213 human sera from Mexico. Indeed, L. braziliensis Fe-SODe has been purified 123.26 times with a specific activity of about 893.66U/mg of protein. Applying the purified enzymes in serological tests we found 17.84% sera positive. We have demonstrated that the purified enzyme is more sensitive than the non-purified ones and we also demonstrated, for the first time, the presence of antibodies against L. braziliensis, not the main species in the country, in human population from Hidalgo and Nuevo Leon States.
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Chagas disease is present in Mexico but data on the presence of its vectors are not known for all the states. We conducted an epidemiological study to ascertain the presence of bedbugs in 23 ...communities of seven municipalities in the state of Querétaro, Mexico. Sampling was performed within and outside dwellings, using the technique of one person searching per hour per house. Four triatomine species were found:
Triatoma mexicana (94%),
Tri.
dimidiata (3%),
Tri.
gerstaeckeri (2%) and
Tri.
pallidipennis (1%).
Triatoma mexicana was found in six of the seven municipalities but has previously been found only in the state of Hidalgo, where it is considered the most important vector species of
Trypanosoma cruzi. This is the first time that the presence of
Tri.
gerstaeckeri or
Tri.
dimidiata has been reported in the state of Querétaro. Tolimán municipality had the highest entomological indices: infestation index 73%; infection index 34.5%; crowding index 9.2%; density index 6.7%; and colonization index 20.6%. Although the prevalence and colonization indices were low, the infestation and infection indices indicate that different
Triatoma species are becoming established in Querétaro. This work represents the first entomological study in this Mexican state and suggests that some triatomine vectors are extraordinarily mobile.
Foreign bodies as infrequent cause of liver abscess Tallón-Aguilar, Luis; Bernal-Moreno, Diego Antonio; López-Porras, Marta ...
Revista española de enfermedades digestivas,
06/2011, Letnik:
103, Številka:
6
Journal Article
Defining the Asthma-COPD Overlap Syndrome in a COPD Cohort Cosio, Borja G., MD; Soriano, Joan B., MD; López-Campos, Jose Luis, MD ...
Chest,
2016, January 2016, 2016-Jan, 2016-01-00, 20160101, Letnik:
149, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Background Asthma-COPD overlap syndrome (ACOS) has been recently described by international guidelines. A stepwise approach to diagnosis using usual features of both diseases is recommended although ...its clinical application is difficult. Methods To identify patients with ACOS, a cohort of well-characterized patients with COPD and up to 1 year of follow-up was analyzed. We evaluated the presence of specific characteristics associated with asthma in this COPD cohort, divided into major criteria (bronchodilator test > 400 mL and 15% and past medical history of asthma) and minor criteria (blood eosinophils > 5%, IgE > 100 IU/mL, or two separate bronchodilator tests > 200 mL and 12%). We defined ACOS by the presence of one major criterion or two minor criteria. Baseline characteristics, health status (COPD Assessment Test CAT), BMI, airflow obstruction, dyspnea, and exercise capacity (BODE) index, rate of exacerbations, and mortality up to 1 year of follow-up were compared between patients with and without criteria for ACOS. Results Of 831 patients with COPD included,125 (15%) fulfilled the criteria for ACOS, and 98.4% of them sustained these criteria after 1 year. Patients with ACOS were predominantly male (81.6%), with symptomatic mild to moderate disease (67%), who were receiving inhaled corticosteroids (63.2%). There were no significant differences in baseline characteristics, and only survival was worse in patients with non-ACOS COPD after 1 year of follow-up ( P < .05). Conclusions The proposed ACOS criteria are present in 15% of a cohort of patients with COPD and these patients show better 1-year prognosis than clinically similar patients with COPD with no ACOS criteria. Trial Registry ClinicalTrials.gov; No.: NCT01122758 ; URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov
This paper presents and implements a novel remote attestation method to ensure the integrity of a device applicable to decentralized infrastructures, such as those found in common edge computing ...scenarios. Edge computing can be considered as a framework where multiple unsupervised devices communicate with each other with lack of hierarchy, requesting and offering services without a central server to orchestrate them. Because of these characteristics, there are many security threats, and detecting attacks is essential. Many remote attestation systems have been developed to alleviate this problem, but none of them can satisfy the requirements of edge computing: accepting dynamic enrollment and removal of devices to the system, respecting the interrupted activity of devices, and last but not least, providing a decentralized architecture for not trusting in just one Verifier. This security flaw has a negative impact on the development and implementation of edge computing-based technologies because of the impossibility of secure implementation. In this work, we propose a remote attestation system that, through using a Trusted Platform Module (TPM), enables the dynamic enrollment and an efficient and decentralized attestation. We demonstrate and evaluate our work in two use cases, attaining acceptance of intermittent activity by IoT devices, deletion of the dependency of centralized verifiers, and the probation of continuous integrity between unknown devices just by one signature verification.
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