Professional development and a discussion of the professional preparation provided by information and library science degree programs in public universities in Madrid, 2000-2005

A study was designed to determine how the degree programs in Information and library science available in 2000-2005 at the public universities of Madrid fit the tabour market needs of their students. The methodology used was the development of a questionnaire addressed to graduates. Although the number of surveys completed is not high (118), the authors believe that the results obtained permit a series of conclusions that may be extrapolated to the entire cohort.

Hypotheses, rationale, design, and methods for prognostic evaluation in type 2 diabetic patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries. The MASS IV-DM Trial

Background: The MASS IV-DM Trial is a large project from a single institution, the Heart Institute (InCor), University of Sao Paulo Medical School, Brazil to study ventricular function and coronary arteries in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Methods/Design: The study will enroll 600 patients with type 2 diabetes who have angiographically normal ventricular function and coronary arteries. The goal of the MASS IV-DM Trial is to achieve a long-term evaluation of the development of coronary atherosclerosis by using angiograms and coronary-artery calcium scan by electron-beam computed tomography at baseline and after 5 years of follow-up. In addition, the incidence of major cardiovascular events, the dysfunction of various organs involved in this disease, particularly microalbuminuria and renal function, will be analyzed through clinical evaluation. In addition, an effort will be made to investigate in depth the presence of major cardiovascular risk factors, especially the biochemical profile, metabolic syndrome inflammatory activity, oxidative stress, endothelial function, prothrombotic factors, and profibrinolytic and platelet activity. An evaluation will be made of the polymorphism as a determinant of disease and its possible role in the genesis of micro- and macrovascular damage. Discussion: The MASS IV-DM trial is designed to include diabetic patients with clinically suspected myocardial ischemia in whom conventional angiography shows angiographically normal coronary arteries. The result of extensive investigation including angiographic follow-up by several methods, vascular reactivity, pro-thrombotic mechanisms, genetic and biochemical studies may facilitate the understanding of so-called micro- and macrovascular disease of DM.

Adaptable Strut-and-Tie Model for Design and Verification of Four-Pile Caps

A large percentage of pile caps support only one column, and the pile caps in turn are supported by only a few piles. These are typically short and deep members with overall span-depth ratios of less than 1.5. Codes of practice do not provide uniform treatment for the design of these types of pile caps. These members have traditionally been designed as beams spanning between piles with the depth selected to avoid shear failures and the amount of longitudinal reinforcement selected to provide sufficient flexural capacity as calculated by the engineering beam theory. More recently, the strut-and-tie method has been used for the design of pile caps (disturbed or D-region) in which the load path is envisaged to be a three-dimensional truss, with compressive forces being supported by concrete compressive struts between the column and piles and tensile forces being carried by reinforcing steel located between piles. Both of these models have not provided uniform factors of safety against failure or been able to predict whether failure will occur by flexure (ductile mode) or shear (fragile mode). In this paper, an analytical model based on the strut-and-tie approach is presented. The proposed model has been calibrated using an extensive experimental database of pile caps subjected to compression and evaluated analytically for more complex loading conditions. It has been proven to be applicable across a broad range of test data and can predict the failures modes, cracking, yielding, and failure loads of four-pile caps with reasonable accuracy.

The Thrombin Receptor Antagonist for Clinical Event Reduction in Acute Coronary Syndrome (TRA.CER) trial: study design and rationale

Background The protease-activated receptor 1 (PAR-1), the main platelet receptor for thrombin, represents a novel target for treatment of arterial thrombosis, and SCH 530348 is an orally active, selective, competitive PAR-1 antagonist. We designed TRA.CER to evaluate the efficacy and safety of SCH 530348 compared with placebo in addition to standard of care in patients with non-ST-segment elevation (NSTE) acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and high-risk features. Trial design TRA.CER is a prospective, randomized, double-blind, multicenter, phase III trial with an original estimated sample size of 10,000 subjects. Our primary objective is to demonstrate that SCH 530348 in addition to standard of care will reduce the incidence of the composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, recurrent ischemia with rehospitalization, and urgent coronary revascularization compared with standard of care alone. Our key secondary objective is to determine whether SCH 530348 will reduce the composite of cardiovascular death, MI, or stroke compared with standard of care alone. Secondary objectives related to safety are the composite of moderate and severe GUSTO bleeding and clinically significant TIMI bleeding. The trial will continue until a predetermined minimum number of centrally adjudicated primary and key secondary end point events have occurred and all subjects have participated in the study for at least I year. The TRA.CER trial is part of the large phase III SCH 530348 development program that includes a concomitant evaluation in secondary prevention. Conclusion TRA.CER will define efficacy and safety of the novel platelet PAR-1 inhibitor SCH 530348 in the treatment of high-risk patients with NSTE ACS in the setting of current treatment strategies. (Am Heart J 2009; 158:327-34.)

A vaccine against S. pyogenes: Design and experimental immune response

Streptococcus pyogenes causes severe invasive infections: the post-streptococcal sequelae of acute rheumatic fever (RF) and rheumatic heart disease (RHD), acute glomerulonephritis, and uncomplicated pharyngitis and pyoderma. Efforts to produce a vaccine against S. pyogenes began several decades ago, and different models have been proposed. Here, we describe the methodology used in the development of a new vaccine model, consisting of both T and B protective epitopes constructed as synthetic peptides and recombinant proteins. Two adjuvants were tested in an experimental inbred mouse model: a classical Freund`s adjuvant and a new adjuvant (AFCo1) that induces mucosal immune responses and is obtained by calcium precipitation of a proteoliposome derived from the outer membrane of Neisseria meningitides B. The StreptInCor vaccine epitope co-administrated with AFCo1 adjuvant induced mucosal (IgA) and systemic (IgG) antibodies as preferential Th1-mediated immune responses. No autoimmune reactions were observed, suggesting that the vaccine epitope is safe. (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.