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The use of a tourniquet in total knee replacement has advantages and drawbacks. Some studies suggest that using ischaemia at low pressures could reduce its negative effects. Our objective is to verify whether the use of ischaemia at low pressures (100 mmHg above the systolic blood pressure) produces greater pain and loss of strength than surgery without a tourniquet. By the means of a prospective randomized clinical trial, patients were assigned to the control group (no tourniquet, NT) or the experimental group (tourniquet, T). The main variables measured were pain (VAS) and isometric muscle strength (preoperatively, 10 days and 3 months after surgery). Secondary variables were haemoglobin at 24 h, transfusion index, need for rescue drugs and days of admission. A total of 71 patients (73 prosthesis) were studied. Both groups were homogeneous in terms of age, body mass index, sex ratio, preoperative strength and level of anesthetic risk. We did not find significative differences in any of the main variables (pain and strength) nor in the secondary ones. We could only find differences in the days of admission (2.77 vs. 3.05; p = 0.031). Use of a tourniquet at low pressures (100 mmHg above systolic blood pressure) did not result in an increase in postoperative pain or a decrease in quadriceps extension force within the first 3 months after surgery. Level 1—Randomized controlled trial

Background : Healthcare workers are at increased risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection. The positivity rates in hospitals that do not receive patients with COVID-19, such as the National Cancer Institute (INCan) in Mexico, and the associated factors are unknown. Objective : To assess the incidence and factors associated with SARS-CoV-2 infection in health workers at INCan. Methods : A cohort study of 531 workers who were followed for 6 months. RT-PCR analysis of saliva and nasopharyngeal swab samples were used in the baseline and to confirm cases during follow-up The incidence rate ratio was calculated according to the measured characteristics and the associated factors were calculated using logistic regression models. Results : Out of 531 workers, 9.6% tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, Being male (RR: 2.07, 95% CI: 1.1-3.8, p=0.02), performing administrative tasks (RR: 1.99, 95% CI: 1.0-3.9, p=0.04), and having relatives also working at INCan (RR: 3.7, 95% CI: 1.4-9.5, p

In this work, we present a low-cost computer controlled, Arduino-based automation of the mass flow controllers for a chemical vapor deposition system. The major goal of the system is to provide the possibility to produce flow ramps of several gases for material synthesis. We used an Arduino Due board that only has the possibility to control two signals and increased this with a multiplexor so we could control 4 signals. The control board is based on the Arduino open source electronics prototyping platform, Labview software and Matlab's Simulink software. We quantify the quality of our automation system by comparing the Raman spectra of our graphene samples obtained after using our Arduino system, the manual method and using a National Instrument board. The results are very good as our 50 dollars system show similar results with the National Instrument system and the manual method.

International audience; Nitrogen (N) is an essential macronutrient for plants, and a major limiting factor for plant growth and crop production. Nitrate is the main source of N available for plants in agricultural soils and in many natural environments. Sustaining agricultural productivity is of paramount importance in the current scenario of increasing world population, diversification of crop uses, and climate change. Plant productivity for major crops around the world is still supported by excess application of N-based fertilizers with detrimental economic and environmental impacts. Thus, understanding how plants regulate nitrate uptake and metabolism is key for developing new crops with enhanced N use efficiency (NUE) and to cope with future world food demands. The study of plant responses to nitrate has gained considerable interest over the last thirty years. This review provides an overview of key findings in nitrate research, spanning biochemistry, molecular genetics, genomics and systems biology. We discuss how we reached our current understanding of nitrate transport, local and systemic nitrate sensing/signaling, and the regulatory networks underlying nitrate-controlled outputs in plants. We hope this summary serves not only as a time-line and information repository, but also as a base to outline important open questions for future research.

Caso de enseñanza que aborda el análisis metodológico de un servicio público hospitalario; la nueva jefatura se enfrenta a una situación crítica con sus profesionales que debe solucionar en menos de tres meses.

The introduction of automatic digital techniques in architecture and the wide availability of big data pose several opportunities and risks concerning the architect's role in automation's creative process. The Hypermobile Commuter City (HCC) project explores the use of big data for informing design processes and transforming the architect's role in designing for cities and suburbia. Applying computational techniques from the territorial to the building scale, HCC changes the final architectural object into an open-ended process able to reconnect design with a diversity of real factors, overcoming the standard vision of practitioners. This raises questions about the architect's autonomy when dealing with automatism as well as the limits of computation and determinism on the built environment.

Background Insertion of a nasogastric tube is a very common procedure in many clinical situations. Several complications associated with their use are well documented, but one of the most significant is inadvertent insertion into the brain. This fatal event has been widely described in patients with basal skull fractures after severe head injury. In contrast, it is an extremely rare complication in non-trauma patients and following transsphenoidal surgery. We report our unusual case in a patient who had undergone a microscopic transoral transsphenoidal surgery for a pituitary tumour and briefly review the literature. Case presentation A giant pituitary adenoma was diagnosed in a 47-year-old woman after she experienced several episodes of seizures and acute hydrocephalus. Initially, a ventriculoperitoneal shunt was placed and microscopic transoral transsphenoidal surgery was carried out sometime later. Twelve days after the surgical procedure, a nasogastric tube was inserted to ensure effective enteral feeding. X-ray imaging was performed but, unfortunately, the shunt tubing was mistaken for the nasogastric tube. After the fatal insertion, the patient had uncontrollable seizures and a low level of consciousness. Brain computed tomography revealed an intraventricular haemorrhage and the tube coiled into the ventricular system and brain parenchyma, passing through the sella and with its distal end pointing towards the occipital region. The nasogastric tube (70 cm in length) was carefully removed through the nasal route under aseptic conditions and general anaesthesia in the operating room, and subsequently, external ventricular drainage was inserted. Despite all efforts, the patient died 8 days later. Conclusions Special care should be taken when inserting a nasogastric tube in patients with head trauma, craniofacial injury, or a history of sinusitis or meningitis infection, as well as after maxillofacial or transsphenoidal surgery. Further, there is a need to assess whether nasogastric tube placement can be avoided in certain patients. We should consider the use of one of the alternative methods of gastric tube placement that have been described, including orogastric intubation, fluoroscopically-guided nasogastric intubation and tube insertion under a direct visual control with a flexible nasopharyngolaryngoscopy or a simple laryngoscope. On the other hand, if this devastating event occurs, it is essential to remove the nasogastric tube under aseptic conditions together with depth of anaesthesia monitoring. It should preferably be removed endoscopically through the nasal route followed by dural repair if a cerebrospinal fluid leak is detected.

Odontogenic myxoma is a locally aggressive benign odontogenic tumor that mainly affects women. It occurs commonly in the mandible, being asymptomatic and slow growing. A male patient, 52 years old, was diagnosed with odontogenic myxoma. He presented with a painless swelling in the right retromandibular region. Orthopantomography and cone beam computerized tomography revealed a mixed multiloculated osteolytic lesion in the right mandibular angle and ramus with expansion into cortical bone. A segmental mandibular resection with safety margins was done, and autologous vascular iliac crest graft was fixed with a plate for osteosynthesis. Clinical-radiographic control at 1 year showed preserved mandibular mobility, bone neoformation, and absence of recurrence. The absence of capsule facilitates the tumor infiltration and explains its high recurrence. For odontogenic myxomas of

After decades of commercialization, genetically modified (GM) crops continue to generate controversy. Countries have developed different GM regulatory styles based on their risk frames, institutional arrangements, and participation modes. Our objective was to understand the development of Chile’s unique regulatory style. We reconstructed the use and regulatory evolution of the technology, identified key actors in the controversy, and compared Chile with other approaches. Chile’s style is ambivalent: restricting commercial use to seed-export but permissive in other domains. This approach reflects a market-caution framing of the issue focused on developing a promising agriculture sub-sector. Thus, Chile became a southern seed nursery for the GM industry. Opponents responded by framing their concerns around a basic demand for public information and transparency. Our case illustrates the challenges and relevance of discussing new technologies in emerging democracies. Access to information, early debates and greater transparency are key to evaluate new technologies in these contexts.

Background:The Remitting Seronegative Symmetrical Synovitis with Pitting Edema Syndrome (RS3PE) is a rare rheumatological disease, considered a benign process.Objectives:This study aims to describe its clinical features and serological markers, and also to analyze its possible association with neoplasms.Methods:An observational retrospective study was performed to assess demographic and clinical characteristics of patients diagnosed from RS3PE at a reference hospital amongst the Rheumatology and Internal Medicine departments, from 2010 to 2021.Results:Twenty-seven patients were included, with a mean age of 82.74 y.o. (IC95% 80.45-85.04; range 66 to 93), and a 51.85% proportion of males. Only 22.22% were from rural areas.All patients presented bilateral hand edema although some associated feet edema (40.74%) or morning stiffness (70.37%). Blood tests demonstrated anemia in 44.44% of patients. Inflammatory markers were elevated, such as C-Reactive Protein (29.23 mg/L, IC95% 18.17-40.29), erythrocyte-sedimentation rate (33.74 mm/hour, IC95% 24.22-43.26) and fibrinogen (531.6 mg/dL, IC95% 482.91-580.30). Only a few patients presented any autoimmune serological marker such as antinuclear antibodies (18.18%) or rheumatoid factor (8.70%).X-ray screening was realized to 22 patients. 14 showed of osteoarthritis radiologic presentation, 4 had radiological findings of chondrocalcinosis and one of them presented both. Only one patient had bone erosion.Malignancy screening was performed at diagnosis in only 29.63% of patients (all negative). During follow-up only two tumors were detected (mean accumulated follow-up: 40.37 months, IC95% 26.70-54.04; range 1 to 122) and there were adenocarcinoma primary neoplasms.All but one patient received low-dose corticosteroids, with a good and rapid response in all cases. Three patients received treatment with methotrexate (2) or leflunomide (1).Conclusion:RS3PE must be contemplated in elderly patients presenting with bilateral hand pitting edema and articular symptoms. No specific biomarkers have been described, but inflammatory reaction is often found in the absence of rheumatoid arthritis biomarkers. Rapid response to corticosteroids is prevalent. Only two neoplasms were detected during follow-up.References:[1]Paira S, Graf C, Roverano S, Rossini J. Remitting seronegative symmetrical synovitis with pitting oedema: a study of 12 cases. Clin Rheumatol. 2002 May;21(2):146-9. doi: 10.1007/pl00011218. PMID: 12086166.[2]Cobeta García JC, Martínez Burgui J. RS3PE syndrome or benign edematous polysynovitis in the elderly. Study of 8 cases. Rev Clin Esp. 1999 Dec;199(12):785-9. Spanish. PMID: 10687410.[3]Moreno Obregón F, Del Castillo Madrigal M, Díaz Narváez F, Pérez Delgado FJ. RS3PE syndrome with positive rheumatoid factor. Reumatol Clin. 2019 Nov-Dec;15(6):e168-e169. English, Spanish. doi: 10.1016/j.reuma.2017.11.009. Epub 2017 Dec 15. PMID: 29254743Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Preclinical studies have reported that sigma-1 receptor antagonists may have efficacy in neuropathic pain states. The sigma-1 receptor is a unique ligand-operated chaperone present in crucial areas for pain control, in both the peripheral and central nervous system. This study assesses the synergistic antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic effect of haloperidol, a sigma-1 antagonist, combined with gabapentin in rats with peripheral neuropathy. Wistar rats male were subjected to chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. The effects of systemic administration of gabapentin and the sigma-1 receptor antagonist, haloperidol, were examined at 11 days post-CCI surgery. An analysis of Surface of Synergistic Interaction was used to determine whether the combination's effects were synergistic. Twelve combinations showed various degrees of interaction in the antihyperalgesic and antiallodynic effects. In hyperalgesia, three combinations showed additive effects, four combinations showed supra-additive effects, and three combinations produced an effect limited by the maximum effect. In allodynia, five combinations showed additive effects, two combinations showed supra-additive effects, and five combinations produced antihyperalgesic effects limited by the maximum effect. These findings indicate that the administration of some specific combination of gabapentin and haloperidol can synergistically reduce nerve injury-induced allodynia and hyperalgesia. This suggests that the haloperidol-gabapentin combination can improve the antiallodynic and antihyperalgesic effects in a neuropathic pain model.

La incidencia de asma y obesidad está en aumento, por lo que se han catalogado como problemas de salud pública. Los datos epidemiológicos sugieren una relación entre ellas y se ha detectado una asociación entre el índice de masa corporal y la función pulmonar. Diversos estudios demuestran una correlación directa entre este índice y el asma. Mediante la búsqueda de referencias en bases de datos médicos de artículos publicados en revistas indizadas, con las palabras clave asma y obesidad: patogénesis, inflamación, adipocinas, hipoxia, nutrición, embarazo, este artículo profundiza en el conocimiento de los elementos básicos que interrelacionan el asma con la obesidad. Se encontró que la asociación existente entre el índice de masa corporal y el asma es más evidente en el sexo femenino. El asma y la obesidad pueden estar influidas por elementos genéticos y programación fetal. A su vez, la obesidad puede incidir en el asma por diversos mecanismos, como los mecánicos, hormonales o inflamatorios. La coincidencia existente entre varios inductores y elementos que exacerban a estas enfermedades, así como en algunas vías moleculares, ponen de manifiesto una relación potencial entre ambas afecciones.

Central giant cell granuloma (GCCG) is a benign osteolytic proliferation with diverse clinical and radiologic behavior patterns, characterized by the presence of multinucleated giant cells in a vascular stroma. A 25-year-old man presented with bilateral swelling in the posterior mandibular region of 2-month duration with painful symptomatology. Intraoral exam showed bilateral expansion of the vestibular cortical bones in the mandibular retromolar region. Panoramic radiograph and computed tomography revealed extensive bilateral multilocular mandibular areas causing bilateral expansion of the vestibular cortical bones. The histopathologic examination showed benign fibroblasts matrix with variable number of giant cells and hemorrhagic content. Immunohistochemistry for CD-68 glycoprotein showed positive immunoreactivity. Biochemical examination showed no signs of hyperparathyroidism. Diagnosis of CGCG is a complex task, even more so when the clinical presentation is unusual. Currently, it is known that the occurrence of multiple lesions of CGCG is associated with different systemic diseases.

Latin Americans and Chilean Amerindians have the highest prevalence of gallstone disease (GSD) and gallbladder cancer (GBC) in the world. A handful of loci have been associated with GSD in populations of predominantly European ancestry, however, they only explain a small portion of the genetic component of the disease. Here, we performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for GSD in 1,095 admixed Chilean Latinos with Mapuche Native American ancestry. Disease status was assessed by cholecystectomy or abdominal ultrasonography. Top-10 candidate variants surpassing the suggestive cutoff of P −5 in the discovery cohort were genotyped in an independent replication sample composed of 1,643 individuals. Variants with positive replication were further examined in two European GSD populations and a Chilean GBC cohort. We consistently replicated the association of ABCG8 gene with GSD (rs11887534, P = 3.24 × 10−8, OR = 1.74) and identified TRAF3 (rs12882491, P = 1.11 × 10−7, OR = 1.40) as a novel candidate gene for the disease in admixed Chilean Latinos. ABCG8 and TRAF3 variants also conferred risk to GBC. Gene expression analyses indicated that TRAF3 was significantly decreased in gallbladder (P = 0.015) and duodenal mucosa (P = 0.001) of GSD individuals compared to healthy controls, where according to GTEx data in the small intestine, the presence of the risk allele contributes to the observed effect. We conclude that ABCG8 and TRAF3 genes are associated with GSD and GBC in admixed Latinos and that decreased TRAF3 levels could enhance gallbladder inflammation as is observed in GSD and GSD-associated GBC.

BackgroundLatin Americans and Chilean Amerindians have the highest prevalence of cholesterol gallstone disease (GSD) and gallbladder cancer (GBC) in the world. A handful of loci have been associated with GSD in populations of predominantly European ancestry, however they only explain a small portion of the population-attributable risk of the disease.MethodsWe performed a genome-wide association study (GWAS) for GSD in 1,095 admixed Latinos with Mapuche Native American Ancestry, followed by a replication analysis of 10 candidate single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with suggestive genome-wide significance (P−5) in 1,643 individuals. Disease status was assessed by cholecystectomy or abdominal ultrasonography. Logistic regression analyses were adjusted for age, sex, BMI, Type 2 Diabetes and Amerindian ancestry. Associated variants were further examined in two large GSD European populations and in a Chilean gallbladder cancer (GBC) cohort. We determined the expression levels of a novel GSD-candidate gene in normal and GSD-tissue samples.ResultsWe consistently replicated theABCG8gene (rs11887534; P=3.24×10−8, OR=1.74) associated with GSD in admixed Latinos and identified a novel candidate signal within theTRAF3gene on chromosome 14 (rs12882491; P=1.11×10−7, OR=1.40).ABCG8andTRAF3variants also conferred risk to GBC. Gene expression analyses indicated thatTRAF3levels were significantly decreased in the gallbladder (P=0.015) and the duodenal mucosa (P=0.001) of affected GSD individuals compared to healthy controls.ConclusionsWe confirmedABCG8and identifiedTRAF3both associated with GSD and GBC in admixed Latinos. Decreased TRAF3 expression levels could enhance gallbladder inflammation as is observed in GSD and GSD-associated GBC.

De acuerdo con el Centro Internacional de Casos del TEC de Monterrey (2014) , el método de casos es un modo de enseñanza en el que los alumnos construyen su aprendizaje a partir del análisis y discusión de experiencias y situaciones de la vida real, siendo así un caso la descripción de una situación por la que atraviesa una organización o individuo. Desde esta perspectiva, el método del caso tiene un objetivo didáctico para fortalecer las competencias directivas, gerenciales y de emprendimiento de los estudiantes. Ante la necesidad de educar líderes en el campo de los negocios, algunas universidades han utilizado el método del caso para favorecer el proceso de aprendizaje de las principales competencias profesionales. En algunas, el caso de estudio constituye uno de los recursos más usados, por su poder para describir situaciones reales de negocios que los estudiantes deben enfrentar. En el proceso, los estudiantes aprenden tanto los contenidos teóricos de los cursos, como de la experiencia de ponerlos en práctica durante el análisis de un caso (González, 2013). El caso de enseñanza “Los Trigos Limpios”, tiene por aprendizaje esperado: “Implementar actividades de capacitación, aportando de manera responsable, colaborativa y comprometida al logro de objetivos comunes, según los requerimientos de los trabajadores de la empresa”. José Rojo con su socio y amigo, hace diez años formaron la panadería “Los Trigos Limpios”, fueron incrementando poco a poco tanto productos como recursos humanos a su emblemática panadería. El socio de José, después de un viaje al extranjero y la evidente demanda por modernizar los procesos, incorporar productos saludables, tiene la inquietud de capacitar a sus colaboradores. “Una panadería hoy debe contar con productos con insumos orgánicos, saludables y en la línea del cuidado del medioambiente, usando maquinarias de alta tecnología”, fue el relato que ambos socios finalmente comprometieron en esta nueva etapa donde los colaboradores serán capacitados, el financiamiento mediante un crédito de consumo es la alternativa más viable y también más rápida; no obstante, el beneficio fiscal de usar una franquicia tributaria es también interesante. Ambos socios defienden sus posturas frente a la decisión urgente de “Los Trigos Limpios”.

Nitrogen (N)-based fertilizers are routinely used to increase agricultural productivity for both food and non-food uses of crops. Unfortunately, excess N fertilizers escape to the environment, leading to detrimental effects on the ecosystem and human health. Understanding how plants sense and respond to different N nutrients or metabolites to regulate metabolism, physiology, growth, and development is essential for sustained yields while reducing agriculture's environmental and economic costs. Several recent publications report important components of the nitrate signaling pathway, and the role of Ca2+ as a second messenger downstream of nitrate perception in roots and shoots is now clear.

Motivation: Massive amounts of genome-wide gene expression data have become available, motivating the development of computational approaches that leverage this information to predict gene function. Among successful approaches, supervised machine learning methods, such as Support Vector Machines (SVMs), have shown superior prediction accuracy. However, these methods lack the simple biological intuition provided by co-expression networks (CNs), limiting their practical usefulness. Results: In this work, we present Discriminative Local Subspaces (DLS), a novel method that combines supervised machine learning and co-expression techniques with the goal of systematically predict genes involved in specific biological processes of interest. Unlike traditional CNs, DLS uses the knowledge available in Gene Ontology (GO) to generate informative training sets that guide the discovery of expression signatures: expression patterns that are discriminative for genes involved in the biological process of interest. By linking genes co-expressed with these signatures, DLS is able to construct a discriminative CN that links both, known and previously uncharacterized genes, for the selected biological process. This article focuses on the algorithm behind DLS and shows its predictive power using an Arabidopsis thaliana dataset and a representative set of 101 GO terms from the Biological Process Ontology. Our results show that DLS has a superior average accuracy than both SVMs and CNs. Thus, DLS is able to provide the prediction accuracy of supervised learning methods while maintaining the intuitive understanding of CNs. Availability: A MATLAB® implementation of DLS is available at http://virtualplant.bio.puc.cl/cgi-bin/Lab/tools.cgi Contact: tfpuelma@uc.cl Supplementary Information: Supplementary data are available at http://bioinformatics.mpimp-golm.mpg.de/.

Any application that represents data as sets of graphs may benefit from the discovery of relationships among those graphs. To do this in an unsupervised fashion requires the ability to find graphs that are similar to one another. That is the purpose of GraphClust. The GraphClust algorithm proceeds in three phases, often building on other tools:(1) it finds highly connected substructures in each graph;(2) it uses those substructures to represent each graph as a feature vector; and(3) it clusters these feature vectors using a standard distance measure. We validate the cluster quality by using the Silhouette method. In addition to clustering graphs, GraphClust uses SVD decomposition to find frequently co-occurring connected substructures. The main novelty of GraphClust compared to previous methods is that it is application-independent and scalable to many large graphs.

Nitrogen (N)–based fertilizers increase agricultural productivity but have detrimental effects on the environment and human health. Research is generating improved understanding of the signaling components plants use to sense N and regulate metabolism, physiology, and growth and development. However, we still need to integrate these regulatory factors into signal transduction pathways and connect them to downstream response pathways. Systems biology approaches facilitate identification of new components and N-regulatory networks linked to other plant processes. A holistic view of plant N nutrition should open avenues to translate this knowledge into effective strategies to improve N-use efficiency and enhance crop production systems for more sustainable agricultural practices.

Data generation is no longer the limiting factor in advancing biological research. In addition, data integration, analysis, and interpretation have become key bottlenecks and challenges that biologists conducting genomic research face daily. To enable biologists to derive testable hypotheses from the increasing amount of genomic data, we have developed the VirtualPlant software platform. VirtualPlant enables scientists to visualize, integrate, and analyze genomic data from a systems biology perspective. VirtualPlant integrates genome-wide data concerning the known and predicted relationships among genes, proteins, and molecules, as well as genome-scale experimental measurements. VirtualPlant also provides visualization techniques that render multivariate information in visual formats that facilitate the extraction of biological concepts. Importantly, VirtualPlant helps biologists who are not trained in computer science to mine lists of genes, microarray experiments, and gene networks to address questions in plant biology, such as: What are the molecular mechanisms by which internal or external perturbations affect processes controlling growth and development? We illustrate the use of VirtualPlant with three case studies, ranging from querying a gene of interest to the identification of gene networks and regulatory hubs that control seed development. Whereas the VirtualPlant software was developed to mine Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) genomic data, its data structures, algorithms, and visualization tools are designed in a species-independent way. VirtualPlant is freely available at www.virtualplant.org.

Summary: Sungear is a software system that supports a rapid, visually interactive and biologist-driven comparison of large datasets. The datasets can come from microarray experiments (e.g. genes induced in each experiment), from comparative genomics (e.g. genes present in each genome) or even from non-biological applications (e.g. demographics or baseball statistics). Sungear represents multiple datasets as vertices in a polygon. Each possible intersection among the sets is represented as a circle inside the polygon. The position of the circle is determined by the position of the vertices represented in the intersection and the area of the circle is determined by the number of elements in the intersection. Sungear shows which Gene Ontology terms are over-represented in a subset of circles or anchors. The intuitive Sungear interface has enabled biologists to determine quickly which dataset or groups of datasets play a role in a biological function of interest.Availability: A live online version of Sungear can be found atContact: shasha@cs.nyu.eduSupplementary information: Submitted—link TBD.

A report of the joint American Society of Plant Biologists/Sociedad Mexicana De Bioquímica meeting held in Mérida, Mexico, 26 June-1 July 2008.