Possible new ways in the pharmacological treatment of bipolar disorder and comorbid alcoholism.

Possible new ways in the pharmacological treatment of bipolar disorder and comorbid alcoholism. Azorin JM, Bowden CL, Garay RP, Perugi G, Vieta E, Young AH. Source Department of Psychiatry, CHU Sainte Marguerite, Marseilles, France. Abstract About half of all bipolar patients have an alcohol abuse problem at some point of their lifetime. However, only one randomized, controlled trial of pharmacotherapy (valproate) in this patient population was published as of 2006. Therefore, we reviewed clinical trials in this indication of the last four years (using mood stabilizers, atypical antipsychotics, and other drugs). Priority was given to randomized trials, comparing drugs with placebo or active comparator. Published studies were found through systematic database search (PubMed, Scirus, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, Science Direct). In these last four years, the only randomized, clinically relevant study in bipolar patients with comorbid alcoholism is that of Brown and colleagues (2008) showing that quetiapine therapy decreased depressive symptoms in the early weeks of use, without modifying alcohol use. Several other open-label trials have been generally positive and support the efficacy and tolerability of agents from different classes in this patient population. Valproate efficacy to reduce excessive alcohol consumption in bipolar patients was confirmed and new controlled studies revealed its therapeutic benefit to prevent relapse in newly abstinent alcoholics and to improve alcohol hallucinosis. Topiramate deserves to be investigated in bipolar patients with comorbid alcoholism since this compound effectively improves physical health and quality of life of alcohol-dependent individuals. In conclusion, randomized, controlled research is still needed to provide guidelines for possible use of valproate and other agents in patients with a dual diagnosis of bipolar disorder and substance abuse or dependence.

Els entorns virtuals d'aprenentatge com escenari Big Data: el cas de la UOC

En aquest treball es presenta el laboratori que l'eLearn Center posa a disposició del professorat i investigadors en e-learning de la UOC per al disseny sistemàtic d'experiments sota una perspectiva de Learning Analytics, però tambémecanismes per fer seguiment i documentar tot el procés que envolta el disseny d'experiències docents de forma que sigui més senzill transferir-les a altres àmbits.

Investigation of CCL18 and A1AT as potential urinary biomarkers for bladder cancer detection

BACKGROUND: In this study, we further investigated the association of two biomarkers, CCL18 and A1AT, with bladder cancer (BCa) and evaluated the influence of potentially confounding factors in an experimental model. METHODS: In a cohort of 308 subjects (102 with BCa), urinary concentrations of CCL18 and A1AT were assessed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). In an experimental model, benign or cancerous cells, in addition to blood, were added to urines from healthy controls and analyzed by ELISA. Lastly, immunohistochemical staining for CCL18 and A1AT in human bladder tumors was performed. RESULTS: Median urinary protein concentrations of CCL18 (52.84 pg/ml vs. 11.13 pg/ml, p < 0.0001) and A1AT (606.4 ng/ml vs. 120.0 ng/ml, p < 0.0001) were significantly elevated in BCa subjects compared to controls. Furthermore, the addition of whole blood to pooled normal urine resulted in a significant increase in both CCL18 and A1AT. IHC staining of bladder tumors revealed CCL18 immunoreactivity in inflammatory cells only, and there was no significant increase in these immunoreactive cells within benign and cancerous tissue and no association with BCa grade nor stage was noted. A1AT immunoreactivity was observed in the cytoplasm of epithelia cells and intensity of immunostaining increased with tumor grade, but not tumor stage. CONCLUSIONS: Further development of A1AT as a diagnostic biomarker for BCa is warranted.

Portal per a empreses de hosting

Memòria del projecte final de carrera en l'àrea de J2EE que explica la creació d'un portal d'automatització d'empreses de hosting.

Automatización de despliegue de instancias para aplicaciones y ambientes virtuales usando OpenStack y Ansible

El contenido de este documento ilustra cómo realizar el despliegue de recursos informáticos en la nube para múltiples propósitos como aplicaciones, bases de datos y contenedores. Para lo cual se empleará Ansible como herramienta de automatización de configuraciones y OpenStack para controlar la infraestructura de cloud.