Determination of drugs used in combined cardiovascular therapy

Cardiovascular diseases are nowadays the first cause of mortality worldwide, causing around the 30% of global deaths each year. The risk of suffering from cardiovascular illnesses is strongly related to some factors such as hypertension, high cholesterol levels, diabetes, obesity The combination of these different risk factors is known as metabolic syndrome and it is considered a pandemic due to the high prevalence worldwide. The pathology of the disorders implies a combined cardiovascular therapy with drugs which have different targets and mechanisms of action, to regulate each factor separately. The simultaneous analysis of these drugs turns interesting but it is a complex task since the determination of multiple substances with different physicochemical properties and physiological behavior is always a challenge for the analytical chemist. The complexity of the biological matrices and the difference in the expected concentrations of some analytes require the development of extremely sensitive and selective determination methods. The aim of this work is to fill the gap existing in this field of the drug analysis, developing analytical methods capable of quantifying the different drugs prescribed in combined cardiovascular therapy simultaneously. Liquid chromatography andem mass spectrometry (LCMS/MS) has been the technique of choice throughout the main part of this work, due to the high sensitivity and selectivity requirements.

Stability and Limit Oscillations of a Control Event-Based Sampling Criterion

This paper investigates the presence of limit oscillations in an adaptive sampling system. The basic sampling criterion operates in the sense that each next sampling occurs when the absolute difference of the signal amplitude with respect to its currently sampled signal equalizes a prescribed threshold amplitude. The sampling criterion is extended involving a prescribed set of amplitudes. The limit oscillations might be interpreted through the equivalence of the adaptive sampling and hold device with a nonlinear one consisting of a relay with multiple hysteresis whose parameterization is, in general, dependent on the initial conditions of the dynamic system. The performed study is performed on the time domain.

Plasma brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels, learning capacity and cognition in patients with first episode psychosis

Background: Cognitive impairments are seen in first psychotic episode (FEP) patients. The neurobiological underpinnings that might underlie these changes remain unknown. The aim of this study is to investigate whether Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) levels are associated with cognitive impairment in FEP patients compared with healthy controls. Methods: 45 FEP patients and 45 healthy controls matched by age, gender and educational level were selected from the Basque Country area of Spain. Plasma BDNF levels were assessed in healthy controls and in patients. A battery of cognitive tests was applied to both groups, with the patients being assessed at 6 months after the acute episode and only in those with a clinical response to treatment. Results: Plasma BDNF levels were altered in patients compared with the control group. In FEP patients, we observed a positive association between BDNF levels at six months and five cognitive domains (learning ability,immediate and delayed memory, abstract thinking and processing speed) which persisted after controlling for medications prescribed, drug use, intelligence quotient (IQ) and negative symptoms. In the healthy control group, BDNF levels were not associated with cognitive test scores. Conclusion: Our results suggest that BDNF is associated with the cognitive impairment seen after a FEP. Further investigations of the role of this neurotrophin in the symptoms associated with psychosis onset are warranted.

Bizkaiko jauntxoen inguruko herri literaturaz: Plentziako 1603ko hiru esaera zahar eta "Refranes y Sentencias"-en jatorria, eta proposamen bat Arrasateko erreketaren kantuez

[EUS] Lan honetan aurkikuntza baten berri ematen dugu: Plentziako armarri batean aurkitutako hiru euskal esaera zahar (1603) aurkezten eta hizkuntzaren eta historiaren ikuspuntutik aztertzen ditugu. Hiru esaerotatik bi «Refranes y sentencias» 1596) lanean agertzen dira, eta hori datu garrantzitsua da; izan ere, Lakarrak 1996) errefrau-bilduma anonimo horren jatorriaz egindako proposamena berresteko argudio berria da. Zehazki, Bizkaiko ipar-mendebala proposatu zuen Lakarrak bildumako errefrauen jatorri gisa. Beste alde batetik, Bizkaiko ipar-mendebaleko euskararen zenbait ezaugarri baliatuta, Arrasateko erreketari buruzko zenbait kantu eremu horretan sortu zirela proposatzen dugu —zehazki, Butroeko (Gatika) dorretxearen inguruan—, hizkuntzari dagozkion argudioak historiari buruzkoekin osatuta.