Modified differentials and basic cohomology for Riemannian foliations

We define a new version of the exterior derivative on the basic forms of a Riemannian foliation to obtain a new form of basic cohomology that satisfies Poincaré duality in the transversally orientable case. We use this twisted basic cohomology to show relationships between curvature, tautness, and vanishing of the basic Euler characteristic and basic signature.

Anàlisi de Requeriments per un Model de Xarxa de Telecomunicacions amb aplicació des d'un Sistema d'Informació Geogràfica

La idea principal és crear un model d'una xarxa de telecomunicacions gestionable des d'un programari d'informació geogràfica (GIS). Es tracta de dissenyar una xarxa simple de fibra òptica similar a les que es fan per a la connexió directa de clients amb aquesta tecnologia.

Vasopressina, un nou biomarcador en insuficiència cardíaca.

Introducció. Les concentracions plasmàtiques dels pèptids natriürètics són biomarcadors útils en el diagnòstic i en el maneig de la insuficiència cardíaca (IC). L’objectiu de l’estudi va consistir en avaluar un nou biomarcador, la vasopressina, per predir la mortalitat i el reingrés a mig termini dels pacients que ingressen per IC aguda. Mètodes. Des del novembre de 2004 fins setembre de 2010 s’estudien de forma prospectiva el pacients que ingressen al Servei de Cardiologia per IC aguda i es distribueixen en dos grups: grup 1, pacients amb nivells baixos de vasopressina ( ≤ 2’9 pg/mL) i grup 2, pacients amb nivells alts de vasopressina (  2’9 pg/mL). Es realitza una anàlisi multivariada de Cox i es construeixen corbes de Kaplan-Meier. Resultats. S’inclouen 322 pacients, amb una mediana de seguiment de 14,6 mesos. Els pacients del grup 1 presenten una major supervivència als 12 i 24 mesos del 93% i 72% respecte els pacients del grup 2 que és del 75% i 61% amb una HR 2.90 (IC 95%: 1.47-5.75, p=0.002), respectivament. Tanmateix s’aprecia una major supervivència cardiovascular en els pacients del grup 1 (97% vs. 87% al 12 mesos i de 87% vs. 75% als 24 mesos) amb HR 2.72 (IC 95%: 1.97 – 6.73, p&0.031). Un 56% i 29% dels pacients del grup 1 estaven lliures de reingrés als 12 i 24 mesos, respectivament, versus el 49% i el 21% del grup 2 amb una HR 1.48 (IC 95%: 1.04 – 2.11, p&0.02). Igualment pel primer reingrés per IC , el 71% i 46% del grup 1 respecte del 60% i 39% del grup 2 als 12 i 24 mesos, respectivament (HR 1.57 (IC 95%: 1.03 – 2.41, p&0.038). Conclusions. Els nivells alts de vasopressina en pacients amb insuficiència cardíaca aguda estabilitzats són un predictor independent de mortalitat i de reingressos als 12 i 24 mesos de seguiment.

Parental care time in four European countries: comparing types and contexts

The intensity of parental investments in child care time is expected to vary across families with different norms and time-constraints. Additionally, it should also differ across countries, since the abilities of parents to harmonize family and work vary by national context. In our opinion, however, this question remains inconclusive for two main reasons: 1) only some countries have been studied from a comparative approach; 2) previous studies have not paid enough attention to the analysis of how the conditional effects of education and employment affect parental investments.In this paper we used nationally representative time-use data from Denmark, Flanders, Spain and the United Kingdom (N=4,031) to explore how employment and education predict variations in child care time. IN Britain and Spain employment has a strong negative effect on fathers’ child care, but a weaker one in Flanders and particularly in Denmark. In contrast, maternal employment has a strong negative impact in all four countries. Education increases child care time significantly only among Spanish mothers and fathers, as well as British mothers. Nonetheless, we find that college-educated mothers under similar time-constraints increase substantially their expected child care time in Britain, Flanders and Spain; for fathers we find a more mixed picture. Routine child care activities are more sensitive to both maternal and paternal employment than interactive child care activities. Finally, we observe that working a public sector job generally increases a total time allocated to parental care, controlling for several demographic and socioeconomic variables.

Sequential screening

We present a model of price discrimination where a monopolistfaces a consumer who is privately informed about thedistribution of his valuation for an indivisible unit ofgood but has yet to learn privately the actual valuation.The monopolist sequentially screens the consumer with amenu of contracts:the consumer self-selects once by choosing a contract andthen self-selects again when he learns the actual valuation. A deterministic sequential mechanism is a menu of refundcontracts, each consisting of an advance payment and a refundamount in case of no consumption, but sequential mechanismsmay involve randomization.We characterize the optimal sequential mechanism when someconsumer types are more eager in the sense of first-orderstochastic dominance, and when some types face greatervaluation uncertainty in the sense of mean-preserving-spread.We show that it can be optimal to subsidize consumer typeswith smaller valuation uncertainty (through low refund, as inairplane ticket pricing) in order to reduce the rent to thosewith greater uncertainty. The size of distortion depends bothon the type distribution and on how informative the consumer'sinitial private knowledge is about his valuation, but noton how much he initially knows about the valuation per se.

Growth and reproduction of the dolphinfish (Coryphaena equiselis and Coryphaena hippurus) in the Canary Islands, Central-East Atlantic (preliminary results)

The size, growth and spawning characteristics of pompano dolphin (N=150) and common dolphinfish (N=36) caught off the Canary Islands between May and September 1995 and between July and September 1996 were examined. Fork length (FL) of pompano dolphin was in the range 28.3-62.8 cm. In 1995, the mean length increased significantly from June to September. However, in 1996, the mean length was significantly larger in July than in September. The overall length-weight relationship was W=0.0287*FL2.774 (r=0.97), while these relationships by sex were as follows: W=0.031*FL2.758 (r=0.98) and W=0.0282*FL2.776 (r=0.97), for males and females respectively. Spawning takes place at the beginning of the Summer (June-July). All the individuals obtained showed developing gonads, but females showed a higher gonadosomatic index (GSI) than males. The highest GSI values were obtained in June (x- =3.10±1.73), and decreased progressively towards the end of the season (September), when the average of this index was x- = 1.86±0.87. Similarly, the condition index decreased significantly from June to September. The proportion of females was always significantly higher than males, except in July 1996 when it was 1:1. There was a high correspondence between growth rates determined by annuli scale interpretation and modal progression analysis. According to scale annuli interpretation, the individuals caught showed more than five age classes. However, there are doubts about age assignation from scales. Fork length of common dolphinfish was in the range of 76.5-103.0 cm. The length-weight relationships obtained for all the specimens caught was W=0.00095FL3.527 (r=0.96), while these relationships by sex were as follows: W=0.00398FL3.222 (r=0.94) and W=0.01656FL2.873 (r=0.91), for males and females respectively. Spawning probably takes place at the beginning of the Summer. All the individuals obtained showed developing gonads, although the GSI of females were higher than males. The highest GSI values were obtained in June (x- =5.50±2.17). In the same way, the condition index decreased from May to June. The proportion of females was always slightly higher than males (1:1.4), but the ratio was not significantly different from 1:1

Predictive factors in the long term outcome in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: six years follow up of 107 patients

There is little information concerning the long term outcome of patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). Thus 109 patients with reflux symptoms (33 with erosive oesophagitis) with a diagnosis of GORD after clinical evaluation and oesophageal testing were studied. All patients were treated with a stepwise approach: (a) lifestyle changes were suggested aimed at reducing reflux and antacids and the prokinetic agent domperidone were prescribed; (b) H2 blockers were added after two months when symptoms persisted; (c) anti-reflux surgery was indicated when there was no response to (b). Treatment was adjusted to maintain clinical remission during follow up. Long term treatment need was defined as minor when conservative measures sufficed for proper control, and as major if daily H2 blockers or surgery were required. The results showed that one third of the patients each had initial therapeutic need (a), (b), and (c). Of 103 patients available for follow up at three years and 89 at six years, respective therapeutic needs were minor in 52% and 55% and major in 48% and 45%. Eighty per cent of patients in (a), 67% in (b), and 17% in (c) required only conservative measures at six years. A decreasing lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (p < 0.001), radiological reflux (p = 0.028), and erosive oesophagitis (p = 0.031), but not initial clinical scores, were independent predictors of major therapeutic need as shown by multivariate analysis. The long term outcome of GORD is better than previously perceived.

Predictive factors in the long term outcome in gastro-oesophageal reflux disease: six years follow up of 107 patients

There is little information concerning the long term outcome of patients with gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD). Thus 109 patients with reflux symptoms (33 with erosive oesophagitis) with a diagnosis of GORD after clinical evaluation and oesophageal testing were studied. All patients were treated with a stepwise approach: (a) lifestyle changes were suggested aimed at reducing reflux and antacids and the prokinetic agent domperidone were prescribed; (b) H2 blockers were added after two months when symptoms persisted; (c) anti-reflux surgery was indicated when there was no response to (b). Treatment was adjusted to maintain clinical remission during follow up. Long term treatment need was defined as minor when conservative measures sufficed for proper control, and as major if daily H2 blockers or surgery were required. The results showed that one third of the patients each had initial therapeutic need (a), (b), and (c). Of 103 patients available for follow up at three years and 89 at six years, respective therapeutic needs were minor in 52% and 55% and major in 48% and 45%. Eighty per cent of patients in (a), 67% in (b), and 17% in (c) required only conservative measures at six years. A decreasing lower oesophageal sphincter pressure (p < 0.001), radiological reflux (p = 0.028), and erosive oesophagitis (p = 0.031), but not initial clinical scores, were independent predictors of major therapeutic need as shown by multivariate analysis. The long term outcome of GORD is better than previously perceived.

Turnos de 7 horas versus 12 horas en enfermería intensiva: vivir a contratiempo

Resumen Los turnos de trabajo tienen repercusión sobre el bienestar de los profesionales sanitarios influyendo en su calidad de vida. El objetivo principal de este estudio es describir las consecuencias que tiene el turno de trabajo diurno de 12 h respecto al de 7 h en los profesionales de enfermería que trabajan en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos. Se trata así de un estudio descriptivo transversal en 2 hospitales de tercer nivel de Barcelona: Hospital Clínico y Hospital Vall d"Hebron (turnos de 7 h y 12 h respectivamente). La recogida de datos se ha realizado mediante cuestionario ad hoc de 29 preguntas cerradas, anónimo y autoadministrado, basado en 2 escalas: Standard Shiftwork Index y Shiftwork locus of control. Dichos datos fueron procesados a través del programa SPSS V.18.0. De las 85 encuestas realizadas 52 fueron válidas: 22 en el Hospital Clínico de Barcelona y 30 en el Hospital Vall d"Hebron. Cabe destacar que los profesionales encuestados que trabajan en turno de 12 h expresan niveles superiores de conciliación laboral y personal, concretamente en tiempo de ocio a disfrutar (× 2: 10,635; p = 0,031) y tiempo de dedicación familia-amigos, así como niveles más bajos de percepción de fatiga. No se han encontrado diferencias entre el tipo de turno y facilidad de desarrollo del trabajo profesional, a pesar de que el turno de 12 h presenta niveles más altos.

Up-conversion effect of Er- and Yb-doped ZnO thin films

Visible up-conversion in ZnO:Er and ZnO:Er:Yb thin films deposited by RF magnetron sputtering under different O2-rich atmospheres has been studied. Conventional photoluminescence (325 nm laser source) and up-conversion (980 nm laser source) have been performed in the films before and after an annealing process at 800 °C. The resulting spectra demonstrate that the thermal treatment, either during or post-deposition, activates optically the Er3+ ions, being the latter process much more efficient. Moreover, the atmosphere during deposition was also found to be an important parameter, as the deposition under O2 flow increases the optical activity of Er+3 ions. In addition, the inclusion of Yb3+ ions into the films has shown an enhancement of the visible up-conversion emission at 660 nm by a factor of 4, which could be associated to either a better energy transfer from the 2F5/2 Yb level to the 4I11/2 Er one, or to the prevention of having Er2O3 clustering in the films.

Turnos de 7 horas versus 12 horas en enfermería intensiva: vivir a contratiempo

Resumen Los turnos de trabajo tienen repercusión sobre el bienestar de los profesionales sanitarios influyendo en su calidad de vida. El objetivo principal de este estudio es describir las consecuencias que tiene el turno de trabajo diurno de 12 h respecto al de 7 h en los profesionales de enfermería que trabajan en Unidades de Cuidados Intensivos. Se trata así de un estudio descriptivo transversal en 2 hospitales de tercer nivel de Barcelona: Hospital Clínico y Hospital Vall d"Hebron (turnos de 7 h y 12 h respectivamente). La recogida de datos se ha realizado mediante cuestionario ad hoc de 29 preguntas cerradas, anónimo y autoadministrado, basado en 2 escalas: Standard Shiftwork Index y Shiftwork locus of control. Dichos datos fueron procesados a través del programa SPSS V.18.0. De las 85 encuestas realizadas 52 fueron válidas: 22 en el Hospital Clínico de Barcelona y 30 en el Hospital Vall d"Hebron. Cabe destacar que los profesionales encuestados que trabajan en turno de 12 h expresan niveles superiores de conciliación laboral y personal, concretamente en tiempo de ocio a disfrutar (× 2: 10,635; p = 0,031) y tiempo de dedicación familia-amigos, así como niveles más bajos de percepción de fatiga. No se han encontrado diferencias entre el tipo de turno y facilidad de desarrollo del trabajo profesional, a pesar de que el turno de 12 h presenta niveles más altos.

Periodontal health and esthetic results in impacted teeth exposed by apically positioned flap technique

Objectives: This study evaluates the periodontal health status and the esthetic results of teeth subjected to orthodontic traction, after their exposure by an apically positioned flap. Study design: Fifteen patients were included in the study, ages between 11 and 28 years old. The fenestrated teeth and their homologous contralateral normally erupted teeth, used as control, were evaluated. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in the position of the gingival margin (p = 0.005), with an average distance between cemento-enamel junction (CEJ) and gingival margin of 2.47 mm (SD 1.19) in control teeth and of 1 mm (SD 1.31) in the operated teeth, and in the depth of palatal probing (p = 0.031), with 2.1 mm (SD 0.9) for the experimental teeth and 1.7 mm (SD 0.8) for the control teeth. The gingival index, the bleeding during probing and the probing depth did not show statistically significant differences. The patient"s subjective esthetic evaluation was more favorable for the control teeth in most of the cases. Conclusions: The surgical approach for the impacted teeth by means of the apically positioned flap resulted to be a predictable technique allowing the maintenance of the periodontal health on a long-term basis.

Prospección sísmica en el Glaciar Johnsons, Isla Livingston (Antártida). (campañas antárticas 1996-1997 y 1997-1998)

Durante las campañas antárticas de 1996-97 y 1997-98, se realizaron en el glaciar Johnsons (Isla Livingston, A n t á rtida) cinco perfiles sísmicos de refracción (con un total de 2.685 m longitud) y dos perfiles de reflexión (2.980 m longitud) con el objetivo de obtener i n f o rmación sobre el grosor del hielo y la topografía del basamento. En cuanto a la sísmica de refracción, se presenta como un método e ficaz para la obtención del espesor y de la velocidad del hielo, mientras que se propone la sísmica de reflexión como la técnica más adecuada para obtener información sobre la morfología de la cubeta glacial y el contacto hielo-roca. Los resultados aportados por los anteriores métodos se han completado con un análisis minucioso de los datos de campo (estudio del frente de ondas) obteniéndose la localización de sectores con fracturas (grietas) y pudiéndose distinguir áreas de distintas características glaciológicas (zonas de acumulación y ablación). Este conocimiento de la estructura interna del glaciar mediante prospección sísmica junto con otros datos glaciológicos permitirá modelizar la dinámica del flujo del glaciar Johnsons.

Study of B0(s)→K0Sh+h′− decays with first observation of B0s→K0SK±π∓ and B0s→K0Sπ+π

A search for charmless three-body decays of B 0 and B0s mesons with a K0S meson in the final state is performed using the pp collision data, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 1.0 fb−1, collected at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV recorded by the LHCb experiment. Branching fractions of the B0(s)→K0Sh+h′− decay modes (h (′) = π, K), relative to the well measured B0→K0Sπ+π− decay, are obtained. First observation of the decay modes B0s→K0SK±π∓ and B0s→K0Sπ+π− and confirmation of the decay B0→K0SK±π∓ are reported. The following relative branching fraction measurements or limits are obtained $ B(B0→K0SK±π∓)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.128±0.017(stat.)±0.009(syst.),B(B0→K0SK+K−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.385±0.031(stat.)±0.023(syst.),B(B0s→K0Sπ+π−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=0.29±0.06(stat.)±0.03(syst.)±0.02(fs/fd),B(B0s→K0SK±π∓)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)=1.48±0.12(stat.)±0.08(syst.)±0.12(fs/fd)B(B0s→K0SK+K−)B(B0→K0Sπ+π−)∈[0.004;0.068]at90%CL.

Percepción del dolor en pacientes postoperados de cirugía cardiaca

Pain is defined as an unpleasant sensory or emotional experience, associated with tissue damage, that is a reality linked to the surgical procedure and the postoperative period. Objective: Knowing the degree of pain experienced by patients after cardiac surgery, depending on the type of intervention they underwent, over the post-operative period in an intensive care unit (ICU). Method: Descriptive observational study. Pain was assessed by the visual analog scale (VAS), going from 0 to 10, thereby obtaining the first VAS1 assessment at 2 h post-extubation and every 8 hours thereafter up to 48 hours or until discharge to floor VAS7. It included patients having undergone cardiac surgery [valve surgery, bypass, combined procedure (including valve surgery and bypass) and mediastinitis]. Data were processed using Spss.v 20. Results: 120 patients 70 years old on average (standard deviation (SD): 13.3 years old) were included, out of which 70% were male. 40.8% of them had underwent bypass coronary revascularization. Patients subjected to the bypass technique showed an VAS1 mean value of 4.35 (SD: 2.45), unlike those subjected to valve surgery, who showed a mean value of 2.89 (SD: 2.27), those subjected to the combined procedure, who showed a mean value of 3.87 (SD: 2.90), and those with mediastinitis, who showed a mean value of 3.33 (SD: 3.51); (p < 0.031). 28.5% of patients had underwent revascularization (n = 49 ) by an internal mam mary artery (IMA) graft. These patients showed a mean value for VAS1 of 5.4 (SD: 1.89), unlike those who had underwent a combined procedure [IMA and saphenous vein (SV)], who showed a mean value of 3.9 (SD: 2.6), and those who had underwent a SV procedure , who showed a mean value of 3.5 (SD: 2.1); (p < 0.045). Conclusions: Patients having underwent bypass and IMA procedures perceive more pain than in other cardiac surgery and graft interventions