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Background Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an urgent global health problem. Root causes for VAWG include the individual- and family-level factors of alcohol abuse, mental health problems, violence exposure, and related adverse experiences. Few studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have assessed the effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing VAWG. This randomized controlled trial, part of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls consortium, examines the effectiveness of a common elements treatment approach (CETA) for reducing VAWG and comorbid alcohol abuse among families in Zambia. Methods/design Study participants are families consisting of three persons: an adult woman, her male husband or partner, and one of her children aged 8–17 (if available). Eligibility criteria include experience of moderate-to-severe intimate partner violence by the woman and hazardous alcohol use by her male partner. Family units are randomized to receive CETA or treatment as usual. The primary outcome is VAWG as measured by the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale, assessed along with secondary outcomes at 24 months post-baseline. Interim assessments are also conducted at 4–5 months (following CETA completion) and 12 months post-baseline. Conclusions This ongoing trial is one of the first in sub-Saharan Africa to evaluate the use of an evidence-based common elements approach for reducing VAWG by targeting a range of individual- and family-level factors, including alcohol abuse. Results of this trial will inform policy on what interventions work to prevent VAWG in LMIC with local perspectives on scale up and wider implementation.

Resumen: En este trabajo se plantea el desarrollo de un dispositivo, llamado junta expansiva, para mitigar la ruptura de tuberías para el transporte de hidrocarburos, causada por deslizamientos de tierra o dilatación lineal. La solución propuesta, involucra el desplazamiento de 2 tubos que alargan el dispositivo, aliviando la tensión y retardando la ruptura de la tubería. La medida del desplazamiento de esos tubos, requiere ser monitoreada para determinar qué tan pronto ocurrirá la ruptura y emprender las acciones correctivas para evitar el derramamiento del hidrocarburo, razón por la que se plantea este sistema de monitoreo electrónico con interfaz gráfica de usuario que facilita la visualización del desplazamiento de manera remota. De esta forma se complementa la junta expansiva y se ofrece la posibilidad al operador de mantenimiento de la tubería monitoreada, de reaccionar a tiempo. Las pruebas ejecutadas mostraron la funcionalidad del sistema de monitoreo propuesto en la junta expansiva. Abstract: In this work the development of a device, called an expansion joint, is proposed to mitigate the rupture of pipelines for the transportation of hydrocarbons, caused by landslides or linear expansion. Proposed solution involves the displacement of two tubes which extend the device, relieving tension and slowing the rupture of the pipe. The measurement of displacement needs to be monitored to determine how soon the rupture occur and take corrective actions to prevent spillage of hydrocarbons. Then, a system of electronic monitoring with graphical user interface that facilitates the visualization of displacement remotely is proposed, complementing the expansion joint. Operators can maintain the monitored pipe and react in time. The tests performed showed the functionality of the proposed system in the expansion joint. Palabras clave: Junta expansiva, sistema de control monitoreado, transporte de hidrocarburos, tuberías, interfaz gráfica, Keywords: expansion joint, monitored control systems, transport of hydrocarbons, pipelines, graphic interface

Abstract A fundamental challenge in mass spectrometry-based proteomics is the identification of the peptide that generated each acquired tandem mass spectrum. Approaches that leverage known peptide sequence databases cannot detect unexpected peptides and can be impractical or impossible to apply in some settings. Thus, the ability to assign peptide sequences to tandem mass spectra without prior information—de novo peptide sequencing—is valuable for tasks including antibody sequencing, immunopeptidomics, and metaproteomics. Although many methods have been developed to address this problem, it remains an outstanding challenge in part due to the difficulty of modeling the irregular data structure of tandem mass spectra. Here, we describe Casanovo, a machine learning model that uses a transformer neural network architecture to translate the sequence of peaks in a tandem mass spectrum into the sequence of amino acids that comprise the generating peptide. We train a Casanovo model from 30 million labeled spectra and demonstrate that the model outperforms several state-of-the-art methods on a cross-species benchmark dataset. We also develop a version of Casanovo that is fine-tuned for non-enzymatic peptides. Finally, we demonstrate that Casanovo’s superior performance improves the analysis of immunopeptidomics and metaproteomics experiments and allows us to delve deeper into the dark proteome.

Se modelizaron las curvas de calentamiento y de enfriamiento durante el proceso de recocido batch de aceros de bajo contenido en carbono, utilizando la técnica de elementos finitos. Esto, ha permitido conocer, para cada punto de las bobinas recocidas, el perfil térmico desarrollado, particularmente para el punto más caliente y para el más frío. A través de mediciones experimentales, se validaron estos resultados, encontrándose un buen ajuste entre los valores experimentales y los predichos por el modelo empleado. A su vez, se acopló al modelo térmico, un modelo de recristalización del tipo Avrami, con lo cual se ha podido predecir la fracción recristalizada en cada momento y en cada punto. Se realizaron experimentos de recocidos interrumpidos, midiéndose la fracción recristalizada en los puntos extremos de la bobina a distintos tiempos, lo cual permitió validar el modelo de recristalización planteado, encontrándose una buena correspondencia entre los valores predichos por el modelo y aquellos encontrados experimentalmente.

The aim of this work is to delayed the postharvest development of Botrytis cinerea in tomatoes by releasing allyl-isothiocyanate (AITC) from mustard seeds at room temperature, and to discriminate the aromatic profile by using an electronic device (E-nose). Olfactory sensory analysis showed that tomatoes inoculated in the presence of AITC did not develop the microorganisms until the eighth day of storage. The highest inhibitory concentration of AITC was found in Day 3 (175.18 ppb). However, tomatoes inoculated without the presence of AITC developed a moldy aroma on the third day of storage. The most prominent chemical groups were esters, ketones and alcohols. The compounds associated with a positive aroma were trimethyl orthoacetate, styrene, tridecan-7-amine and acetaldehyde, while compounds related to B. cinerea were hepten-2-one and butanoic acid. The E-nose was able to discriminate tomatoes based on their aromatic characteristics during the storage period. Moreover, it successfully quantified the mold defect aroma with the established Partial Least Squares (PLS) model., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background/aim: Although acute myeloid leukemia (AML) has traditionally been considered an oncological emergency and initiation of therapy is believed to be crucial to minimizing disease-related morbidity and mortality, it has also been suggested that a certain delay in treatment has no negative consequences in terms of response, early mortality, or survival. We aimed to determine the effect of administration of sodium caseinate (SC), a salt of casein, the main milk protein, with cytarabine or with daunorubicin on survival in mice with well-established leukemia., Materials and Methods: To assay the time of establishment of leukemia in the bone marrow, Balb/c mice were inoculated with 2.5×10 5 WEHI-3 cells/mouse and after 3, 6 and 9 days were euthanized. Bone marrow mononuclear cells (BM-MNCs) of the femur were obtained and cultured for 120 h with or without rmIL-3 and cell proliferation was evaluated by the crystal violet technique. Then, the effect of administrating SC-cytarabine or SC-daunorubicin on survival rates of mice with well-established leukemia was assayed. Another group of Balb/c mice was inoculated with WEHI-3 cell and after 10 days mice were treated with SC-cytarabine or SC-daunorubicin for 40 days. Survival rates were recorded daily and in surviving mice, the prevalence of bone marrow proliferation after treatment was assayed by the crystal violet technique., Results: The assay on the time of establishment of leukemia shows that in 9 days leukemia cells accumulate in the bone marrow in sufficient quantities to sustain an in vitro culture in the absence of growth factors, and we, thus, used this as a criterion of well-established leukemia. When mice with a burden of leukemic cells of more than 9 days were treated with SC-cytarabine or SC-daunorubicin, this resulted in 55% survival for both treatments, and the proliferation assays showed that the bone marrow retained its normal proliferation capacity., Conclusion: SC-cytarabine or SC-daunorubicin treatment prolonged the survival rate of Balb/c mice with a burden of well-established leukemia, and there was no negative impact on bone marrow functionality; however, SC-cytarabine or SC-daunorubicin combination options need to be sought to increase survival beyond 40 days., Competing Interests: The Authors declare no competing financial interests., (Copyright 2022, International Institute of Anticancer Research.)

Background: Both intimate partner violence (IPV) and alcohol misuse are highly prevalent, and partner alcohol misuse is a significant contributor to women's risk for IPV. There are few evidence-based interventions to address these problems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We evaluated the effectiveness of an evidence-based, multi-problem, flexible, transdiagnostic intervention, the Common Elements Treatment Approach (CETA) in reducing (a) women's experience of IPV and (b) their male partner's alcohol misuse among couples in urban Zambia., Methods and Findings: This was a single-blind, parallel-assignment randomized controlled trial in Lusaka, Zambia. Women who reported moderate or higher levels of IPV and their male partners with hazardous alcohol use were enrolled as a couple and randomized to CETA or treatment as usual plus safety checks (TAU-Plus). The primary outcome, IPV, was assessed by the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale (SVAWS) physical/sexual violence subscale, and the secondary outcome, male alcohol misuse, by the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT). Assessors were blinded. Analyses were intent-to-treat. Primary outcome assessments were planned at post-treatment, 12 months post-baseline, and 24 months post-baseline. Enrollment was conducted between May 23, 2016, and December 17, 2016. In total, 123 couples were randomized to CETA, 125 to TAU-Plus. The majority of female (66%) and a plurality of male (48%) participants were between 18 and 35 years of age. Mean reduction in IPV (via SVAWS subscale score) at 12 months post-baseline was statistically significantly greater among women who received CETA compared to women who received TAU-Plus (-8.2, 95% CI -14.9 to -1.5, p = 0.02, Cohen's d effect size = 0.49). Similarly, mean reduction in AUDIT score at 12 months post-baseline was statistically significantly greater among men who received CETA compared to men who received TAU (-4.5, 95% CI -6.9 to -2.2, p < 0.001, Cohen's d effect size = 0.43). The Data and Safety Monitoring Board recommended the trial be stopped early due to treatment effectiveness following the 12-month post-baseline assessment, and CETA was offered to control participants. Limitations of the trial included the lack of a true control condition (i.e., that received no intervention), self-reported outcomes that may be subject to social desirability bias, and low statistical power for secondary IPV outcomes., Conclusions: Results showed that CETA was more effective than TAU-Plus in reducing IPV and hazardous alcohol use among high-risk couples in Zambia. Future research and programming should include tertiary prevention approaches to IPV, such as CETA, rather than offering only community mobilization and primary prevention., Trial Registration: The trial was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02790827)., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Objective: Early diagnosis and treatment are essential to improve survival of patients with blunt thoracic aortic injury (BTAI). Often, aortic surgical intervention may be delayed because of increased risk of bleeding with heparin, particularly in polytrauma victims. We believe that surgical delay may be remedied by proceeding without heparinization. This study reviewed the outcome of patients subjected to thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) under full, low-dose, and no intraoperative systemic heparinization., Methods: There were 77 cases of confirmed BTAI identified and retrospectively analyzed at a high-volume urban trauma center during a period of 15 years (March 2003-September 2017). Patients were stratified into three groups on the basis of the intraoperative use of heparin during TEVAR, as follows: full heparin (FH), low-dose heparin (LH), and no heparin (NH). Baseline characteristics including the patients' demographics, diagnostic laboratory data and imaging studies, operative reports, postoperative complications, embolic and bleeding outcomes, and mortality data were reviewed., Results: Of the 77 total patients who underwent TEVAR for BTAI, 42 patients received full-dose heparinization, 18 received low-dose heparin, and 17 had no use of systemic heparin. There was no significant difference in age, sex, body mass index, or smoking history. The most common mechanism of injury was motor vehicle collision. Grade 3 (pseudoaneurysm) was the predominant type of BTAI (FH, 69.0%; LH, 61.1%; NH, 76.5%; P = .23). The mean interval between admission and repair was three times longer in the FH group than in the NH group (FH, 2.33 days; NH, 0.76 day; P = .091). The mean time in the intensive care unit was shorter in the NH group vs the FH group (15 days vs 26.21 days; P = .025). Thromboembolic and bleeding outcomes and mortality rates were comparable in all three groups; 57 patients continued follow-up for a mean time of 30.99 months., Conclusions: Our study shows no statistically significant difference in outcomes between the heparinized and nonheparinized groups. The primary benefit of the NH group is seen in time to repair. Although not statistically significant, the mean time to repair was three times longer in the FH group. Patients in the NH group also benefited from prompt intervention and treatment. Therefore, intraoperative heparinization in critically ill patients with BTAI undergoing TEVAR remains at the surgeon's discretion, although the lack of heparinization appears to be a safe and potentially faster alternative, particularly in the polytrauma patient., (Copyright © 2019 Society for Vascular Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: First-pass recanalization via mechanical thrombectomy (MT) has been associated with improved clinical outcome in patients with acute ischaemic stroke. The optimal approach to achieve first-pass effect (FPE) remains unclear. No study has evaluated angiographic features associated with the achievement of FPE. We aimed to determine the procedural approaches and angiographic signs that may predict FPE., Methods: We performed a prospective, multi-centre, observational study of FPE in patients with anterior circulation stroke treated with MT between February and June 2017. MTs were performed using different devices, deployment manoeuvres (standard versus 'Push and Fluff' technique), proximal balloon guide catheter (PBGC), distal aspiration catheter (DAC) or both. The angiographic clot protrusion sign (ACPS) was recorded. Completed FPE (cFPE) was defined as a modified thrombolysis in cerebral infarction score of 2c-3. Associations were sought between cFPE and procedural approaches and angiographic signs., Results: A total of 193 patients were included. cFPE was achieved in 74 (38.3%) patients. The use of the push and fluff technique (odds ratio (OR) 3.45, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.28-9.29, p  = 0.010), PBGC (OR 3.81, 95% CI: 1.41-10.22, p  = 0.008) and ACPS (OR 4.71, 95% CI: 1.78-12.44, p  = 0.002) were independently associated with cFPE. Concurrence of these three variables led to cFPE in 82 vs 35% of the remaining cases ( p  = 0.002)., Conclusions: The concurrence of the PBGC, the push and fluff technique, and the ACPS was associated with the highest rates of cFPE. Appropriate selection of the thrombectomy device and deployment technique may lead to better procedural outcomes. ACPS could be used to assess clot integration strategies in future trials.

Background: Endovascular treatment is considered a reasonable approach for patients with acute posterior circulation stroke, but it remains uncertain which patients will benefit the most from it., Objective: To find independent clinical and angiographic predictors of outcome after endovascular treatment for posterior circulation stroke., Methods: We evaluated consecutive patients with acute posterior circulation stroke who underwent endovascular treatment in our comprehensive stroke center from January 2015 to December 2017. Good outcome was defined as a modified Rankin score of 0-3 at 90 days. Intracranial atheromatous disease was established on focal stenosis recorded during endovascular treatment. Associations were sought between a good outcome and clinical and angiographic factors. Adjusted logistic regression models were used to define independent outcome predictors., Results: Forty-seven consecutive patients were included: mean age 70.9 ± 12.1 years, median admission NIHSS score, 16 (IQR: 8-30). On univariate analysis, age (p = 0.01), smoking (p = 0.04), hypertension (p = 0.03), successful reperfusion (p = 0.04), presence of extracranial atherosclerosis (p = 0.02), and absence of atherosclerosis (p = 0.03) were significantly associated with a good outcome. On multivariate analysis, age <70 years (odds ratio = 6.20, 95%CI 1.52-25.47, p = 0.01) and absence of intracranial atherosclerosis (odds ratio = 6.45, 95% CI 1.09-38.24, p = 0.04) were independently associated with a good outcome., Conclusions: Pretreatment determination of the presence or absence of intracranial atherosclerosis can aid management of posterior circulation stroke patients. The absence of intracranial atherosclerosis may have value as a positive selection criterion for endovascular treatment in future trials. The presence of intracranial atherosclerosis could be used as a selection tool in future studies investigating new treatment protocols for this population., (Copyright © 2019. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

This paper addresses the localization of a gas emission source within a real-world human environment with a mobile robot. Our approach is based on an efficient and coherent system that fuses different sensor modalities (i.e., vision and chemical sensing) to exploit, for the first time, the semantic relationships among the detected gases and the objects visually recognized in the environment. This novel approach allows the robot to focus the search on a finite set of potential gas source candidates (dynamically updated as the robot operates), while accounting for the non-negligible uncertainties in the object recognition and gas classification tasks involved in the process. This approach is particularly interesting for structured indoor environments containing multiple obstacles and objects, enabling the inference of the relations between objects and between objects and gases. A probabilistic Bayesian framework is proposed to handle all these uncertainties and semantic relations, providing an ordered list of candidates to be the source. This candidate list is updated dynamically upon new sensor measurements to account for objects not previously considered in the search process. The exploitation of such probabilities together with information such as the locations of the objects, or the time needed to validate whether a given candidate is truly releasing gases, is delegated to a path planning algorithm based on Markov decision processes to minimize the search time. The system was tested in an office-like scenario, both with simulated and real experiments, to enable the comparison of different path planning strategies and to validate its efficiency under real-world conditions.

Background: Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is an urgent global health problem. Root causes for VAWG include the individual- and family-level factors of alcohol abuse, mental health problems, violence exposure, and related adverse experiences. Few studies in low- and middle-income countries (LMIC) have assessed the effectiveness of psychological interventions for reducing VAWG. This randomized controlled trial, part of the What Works to Prevent Violence Against Women and Girls consortium, examines the effectiveness of a common elements treatment approach (CETA) for reducing VAWG and comorbid alcohol abuse among families in Zambia., Methods/design: Study participants are families consisting of three persons: an adult woman, her male husband or partner, and one of her children aged 8-17 (if available). Eligibility criteria include experience of moderate-to-severe intimate partner violence by the woman and hazardous alcohol use by her male partner. Family units are randomized to receive CETA or treatment as usual. The primary outcome is VAWG as measured by the Severity of Violence Against Women Scale, assessed along with secondary outcomes at 24 months post-baseline. Interim assessments are also conducted at 4-5 months (following CETA completion) and 12 months post-baseline., Conclusions: This ongoing trial is one of the first in sub-Saharan Africa to evaluate the use of an evidence-based common elements approach for reducing VAWG by targeting a range of individual- and family-level factors, including alcohol abuse. Results of this trial will inform policy on what interventions work to prevent VAWG in LMIC with local perspectives on scale up and wider implementation.

Recombinant human erythropoietin (rHuEPO) is an effective treatment for anaemia but concerns that it causes disease progression in cancer patients by activation of EPO receptors (EPOR) in tumour tissue have been controversial and have restricted its clinical use. Initial clinical studies were flawed because they used polyclonal antibodies, later shown to lack specificity for EPOR. Moreover, multiple isoforms of EPOR caused by differential splicing have been reported in cancer cell lines at the mRNA level but investigations of these variants and their potential impact on tumour progression, have been hampered by lack of suitable antibodies. The EpoCan consortium seeks to promote improved pathological testing of EPOR, leading to safer clinical use of rHuEPO, by producing well characterized EPOR antibodies. Using novel genetic and traditional peptide immunization protocols, we have produced mouse and rat monoclonal antibodies, and show that several of these specifically recognize EPOR by Western blot, immunoprecipitation, immunofluorescence, flow cytometry and immunohistochemistry in cell lines and clinical material. Widespread availability of these antibodies should enable the research community to gain a better understanding of the role of EPOR in cancer, and eventually to distinguish patients who can be treated safely by rHuEPO from those at increased risk from treatment., (© 2014 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Evaluation of desinsectation programs carried out in the two Health Services from the V Region, was undertaken by comparing serologic prevalences of T. cruzi infection age groups exposed to the risk of infection in rural areas during the antivectorial campaign activities (1982 vs 1995). Thus, were studied 2,193 blood samples from children under 10 years of age, proceeding from six chagasic endemic provinces in which antitriatomic domiciliary insecticide sprayings had been performed. Indirect hemagglutination and ELISA tests were carried out to each of the blood samples. A total de 42 (1.9%) children resulted positive. As in five counties no positive cases were detected in the last five years it is possible to assume that vector transmission of T. cruzi should have been interrupted in them. When comparing prevalences existing in 1982 with the present ones, it is possible to observe a 63.5% of reduction of transmission in the V Region, been this reduction higher in the Aconcagua Health Service with 79.6% and lower in the Viña del Mar--Quillota Health Service with 55.6%. According to these results, comparison of prevalence of T. cruzi infection in children less than 10-year-old in diverse periods, allows evaluate the vectorial control of Triatoma infestans programs.