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[Background] The immunogenicity of the standard influenza vaccine is reduced in solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients, so new vaccination strategies are needed in this population., [Methods] Adult SOT recipients from 9 transplant clinics in Switzerland and Spain were enrolled if they were >3 months after transplantation. Patients were randomized (1:1:1) to a MF59-adjuvanted or a high-dose vaccine (intervention), or a standard vaccine (control), with stratification by organ and time from transplant. The primary outcome was vaccine response rate, defined as a ≥4-fold increase of hemagglutination-inhibition titers to at least 1 vaccine strain at 28 days postvaccination. Secondary outcomes included polymerase chain reaction–confirmed influenza and vaccine reactogenicity., [Results] A total of 619 patients were randomized, 616 received the assigned vaccines, and 598 had serum available for analysis of the primary endpoint (standard, n = 198; MF59-adjuvanted, n = 205; high-dose, n = 195 patients). Vaccine response rates were 42% (84/198) in the standard vaccine group, 60% (122/205) in the MF59-adjuvanted vaccine group, and 66% (129/195) in the high-dose vaccine group (difference in intervention vaccines vs standard vaccine, 0.20; 97.5% confidence interval [CI], .12–1); P < .001; difference in high-dose vs standard vaccine, 0.24 [95% CI, .16–1]; P < .001; difference in MF59-adjuvanted vs standard vaccine, 0.17 [97.5% CI, .08–1]; P < .001). Influenza occurred in 6% of the standard, 5% in the MF59-adjuvanted, and 7% in the high-dose vaccine groups. Vaccine-related adverse events occurred more frequently in the intervention vaccine groups, but most of the events were mild., [Conclusions] In SOT recipients, use of an MF59-adjuvanted or a high-dose influenza vaccine was safe and resulted in a higher vaccine response rate.

BACKGROUND The immunogenicity of the standard influenza vaccine is reduced in solid-organ transplant (SOT) recipients, so that new vaccination strategies are needed in this population. METHODS Adult SOT recipients from nine transplant clinics in Switzerland and Spain were enrolled if they were >3 months after transplantation. High, with stratification by organ and time from transplant. The primary outcome was vaccine response rate, defined as a ≥4-fold increase of hemagglutination-inhibition titers to at least one vaccine strain at 28 days post-vaccination. Secondary outcomes included PCR-confirmed influenza and vaccine reactogenicity. RESULTS 619 patients were randomized, 616 received the assigned vaccines, and 598 had serum available for analysis of the primary endpoint (standard, n=198; MF59-adjuvanted, n=205; high-dose, n=195 patients). Vaccine response rates were 42% (84/198) in the standard vaccine group, 60% (122/205) in the MF59-adjuvanted vaccine group, and 66% (129/195) in the high-dose vaccine group (difference in intervention vaccines vs. standard vaccine, 0.20 [97.5% CI 0.12-1]; p<0.001; difference in high-dose vs. standard vaccine, 0.24 [95% CI 0.16-1]; p<0.001; difference in MF59-adjuvanted vs. standard vaccine, 0.17 [97.5% CI 0.08-1]; p<0.001). Influenza occurred in 6% the standard, 5% in the MF59-adjuvanted, and 7% in the high-dose vaccine groups. Vaccine-related adverse events occurred more frequently in the intervention vaccine groups, but most of the events were mild. CONCLUSIONS In SOT recipients, use of an MF59-adjuvanted or a high-dose influenza vaccine was safe and resulted in a higher vaccine response rate. TRIAL REGISTRATION Clinicaltrials.gov NCT03699839.

This paper evaluates the performance of the two ETSI non-area forwarding algorithms in the GeoNetworking specification: Greedy Forwarding and Non-Area Contention-Based Forwarding (CBF). Non-area forwarding occurs when a packet is sent to a geographical Destination Area from a node located outside of this area, e.g., when a vehicle wants to alert of hazardous events to other vehicles located in a distant geographical area. The evaluation has been carried out both in urban and highway scenarios and takes into account the complete ETSI Architecture, including the interaction with the Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) mechanism. We have also compared ETSI-defined mechanisms with optimizations found in the literature. Our main findings are that Greedy Forwarding, when combined with DCC, is extremely ineffective even with optimizations, and Non-Area CBFs (both ETSI CBF and an optimized version called S-FoT+) outperform Greedy Forwarding both in highway and urban scenarios.

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) accounts for 80% of all thyroid malignancies, and genetic alterations associated to its etiology remain largely unknown. Chromosomal band 11q13 seems to be one of the most frequently amplified regions in human cancer, providing several candidate genes that need detailed characterization. The aim of our study was to investigate the existence of allelic imbalance at EMSY, CAPN5, and PAK1, as candidate genes within 11q13.5-q14 region using a single nucleotide polymorphism-based analysis. We selected a panel of 9 polymorphisms that were analyzed in 41 thyroid carcinoma samples, their contralateral non-pathological tissue and 178 controls from the general population. We did not detect allelic imbalance at these loci in our series. However, we observed a difference in the EMSY-haplotype distribution among PTC patients when compared to controls (odds ratio=2.00; p=0.02). We conclude that 11q13.5-q14 is not imbalanced in PTC, but there is evidence suggesting that EMSY might be of relevance in PTC etiology., Fundación de Investigación Biomédica Mutua Madrileña Automovilista, Ministerio de Ciencia y Tecnología, Depto. de Cirugía, Fac. de Medicina, TRUE, pub

To examine the reaction of tumour arteries to endothelin-1, we obtained arteries supplying blood flow to colorectal tumours from patients, as well as mesenteric arteries supplying the normal colon tissue from the same patients and mesenteric arteries from patients without a colorectal tumour pathology. The contraction in response to endothelin-1 and the relaxation produced by bradykinin was recorded in each of these arteries. Accordingly, the sensitivity to endothelin-1 but not the maximal response, was higher in the arteries supplying colorectal tumours than in mesenteric arteries supplying normal colon or in mesenteric arteries from patients with no tumour pathology. The contraction produced by endothelin-1 was not modified by exposure to L-NAME or meclofenamate in arteries supplying both the tumour and the normal colon. The endothelin ET(A) andET(B) receptors were expressed similarly in arteries supplying the tumour or normal colon. However, the antagonist of the endothelin ET(B) receptors BQ788 (10(-6) M) decreased the contractions in the arteries supplying the tumour but not in those supplying the normal colon. By contrast, the antagonist of endothelin ET(A) receptors BQ123 (10(-6) M) reduced the contraction equally in both these types of arteries. Likewise, in arteries precontracted with U46619, the relaxation in response to bradykinin was similar in all three types of arteries. Together, these results suggest that the arteries supplying human colorectal tumours are more sensitive to endothelin-1, which could be due to the enhanced activity of endothelin ET(B) receptors in the absence of any change in the modulatory effect of nitric oxide or prostanoids in the arterial response to this peptide, Depto. de Cirugía, Fac. de Medicina, TRUE, pub

This paper evaluates the performance of ETSI ITS Contention-Based Forwarding (CBF) and ETSI Simple GeoBroadcast forwarding while disseminating warning messages over a Geographical Area in highway and urban scenarios. Our experimental evaluation considers the complete ETSI ITS architecture including the Decentralized Congestion Control (DCC) mechanism. We propose an enhanced CBF mechanism, named S-FOT+, which combines several improvements to the ETSI CBF algorithm. S-FoT+ has a similar or better performance than the ETSI forwarding algorithms regarding both reliability and end-to-end delay while requiring much fewer transmissions. The improvements are equally effective and efficient in both urban and highway scenarios with large Destination Areas. Finally, we evaluate the trade-offs that stem from using multi-hop broadcast mechanisms in urban settings with smaller Destination Areas when compared to single-hop broadcast. Results show that multi-hop mechanisms significantly improve coverage at the cost of an increased number of transmissions.

The search and selection of the financing line for a project is one of the first decisions to be made in order to be able to carry out the desired project and thus meet the profit objectives set. This decision is not always taken by the project manager, but without a correct study of the project economics needs it is impossible to make the right decision on which financing to choose. Therefore, the existing project management standards include the knowledge, processes, techniques, and tools for a project manager to successfully manage any type of project throughout its entire life cycle, in which financing is present from the planning stages through initiation, execution and control to closure. The decision-making phase is the planning phase, where the investment project and the business plan, key documents for a good choice, are presented. This research aims to collect the information available today in some of the most representative standards, as well as to make a comparison between them afterwards. Finally, new methodologies will be proposed as well as best practices, tools and techniques complementing the existing ones. The process followed is as follows: First a study of the standards PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition, IPMA ICB 4.0, PM2 guide, ISO 21500:2012 y PRINCE 2 training manual is made. Information related to project finance is collected for each of them. Subsequently, the standards are compared with each other. After this comparison, the methodology followed in the standard for construction Construction Extension to the PMBOK Guide is described, and a review of the state of the art is also made by searching scientific articles as well as information from specialized journals. Finally, a new methodology is proposed with some steps to follow as well as good practices., La búsqueda y selección de la línea de financiación de un proyecto es una de las primeras decisiones que se han de tomar para poder llevar adelante el proyecto deseado y cumplir así con los objetivos de beneficio marcados. Esta decisión no siempre es tomada por el gestor del proyecto, si bien sin un correcto estudio de las necesidades económicas del proyecto es imposible poder tomar la decisión correcta de qué financiación elegir. Así pues, los estándares de gestión de proyectos existentes recogen el conocimiento, los procesos, las técnicas y las herramientas para que un gestor de proyecto pueda llevar a cabo la gestión de cualquier tipo de proyecto con éxito a lo largo de todo su ciclo de vida. Durante ese ciclo la financiación está presente desde las fases de planificación hasta el cierre, pasando por la iniciación, ejecución y control. La fase en la que se toma la decisión es la de planificación, que es donde se presentan el proyecto de inversión y el plan de negocio; documentos claves para una buena elección. Este trabajo pretende recoger la información disponible hoy en día en algunos de los más representativos estándares y hacer una comparación entre ellos posteriormente. Finalmente, se propondrán nuevas metodologías a seguir, así como buenas prácticas, herramientas y técnicas complementando las ya existentes. El proceso seguido para ello es el siguiente: Primero se hace un estudio de los estándares PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition, IPMA ICB 4.0, PM2 guide, ISO 21500:2012 y PRINCE 2 training manual. La información relacionada con la financiación de proyectos es recopilada para cada uno de ellos. Posteriormente, los estándares son comparados entre ellos. Tras esta comparación, se describe la metodología seguida en el estándar para construcción Construction Extension to the PMBOK y también se hace una revisión del estado del arte mediante la búsqueda de artículos científicos, así como de información de revistas especializadas. Finalmente, se propone una nueva metodol, Proiektu baten finantzaketa lerroaren bilaketa eta aukera nahi den proiektua aurrera eramateko eta honen irabazien helburuak betetzeko hartu behar den lehenengo erabakietakoa da. Erabaki hori ez du beti proiektuaren zuzendariak hartuko, nahiz eta finantzaketa aukera egokia hartzea guztiz ezinezkoa den ez badira behar bezala ezagutzen proiektuaren beharrizan ekonomikoak. Hala, proiektuen kudeaketaren estandarrek proiektu-zuzendariak bere bizitzan zehar edozein motatako proiekturen kudeaketa arrakastaz aurrera eramateko ezagutzak, prozesuak, teknikak eta erramintak jasotzen dituzte. Proiektuaren bizitza ziklo osoan zehar proiektuaren finantzaketa dago, plangintza fasetik itxierara arte; hasiera, gauzatze eta egiaztapen faseetatik igarotzen da. Aukera plangintza fasean egiten da; bertan inbertsio proiektua eta negozio plana aurkezten dira eta dokumentu horiek aukera egokia hartzeko gakoak dira. Ikerketa hau gaur egungo estandar garrantzitsuenetan eskura dagoen informazioa biltzen saiatzen da, eta euren artean konparaketa bat egiten ere. Amaitzeko, metodologia berriak proposatuko dira baita jardunbide egokiak, erramintak eta teknika berriak ere, horrela gaur egungoak osatuko dira. Jarraitutako prozesua honako hau da: lehenik eta behin, PMBOK Guide Seventh Edition, IPMA ICB 4.0, PM2 guide, ISO 21500:2012 eta PRINCE 2 training manual estandarrak aztertzen dira. Bakoitzean proiektu finantzaketari buruz aurkitutako informazioa biltzen da. Ondoren, estandarren arteko konparaketa egiten da. Konparaketa horren ostean Construction Extension to the PMBOK Guide proiektu finantzaketarako jarraitutako metodologia deskribatzen da, baita gaur egungo egoeraren berrikuspena eginez ere artikulu zientifikoak eta aldizkari espezializatuak aztertuko dira. Amaitzeko, metodologia berria proposatzen da jarraitu beharreko pausuekin eta jardunbide egokiekin.