Resum de la tasca realitzada al Center Biomedical Engineering (CBE) del Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT). Juliol-Agost 2005

Estudi elaborat a partir d’una estada al Center Biomedical Engineering (CBE) del Massachussets Institute of Technology (MIT), durant els mesos de juliol i agost del 2005. S’investiga una metodologia amb l’objectiu d’obtenir biomaterials que puguin actuar de bastida en la interfície os/cartílag, afavorint la diferenciació i creixement cel·lular de cartílag ossificat que pugui actuar d’unió entre l’articulació i l’os. S’experimenta una metodologia per a establir quins són els péptids afavoridors de la formació de teixit ossi utilitzats en materials d’hidroxiapatita. Es conclou que la tecnologia desenvolupada permet disposar d’una plataforma per assajar l’estudi del signaling sobre cèl·lules embrionàries, que permeti desenvolupar materials amb més capacitat diferenciadora.

OSIRISv1.2: a named entity recognition system for sequence variants of genes in biomedical literature

Background: Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms, among other type of sequence variants, constitute key elements in genetic epidemiology and pharmacogenomics. While sequence data about genetic variation is found at databases such as dbSNP, clues about the functional and phenotypic consequences of the variations are generally found in biomedical literature. The identification of the relevant documents and the extraction of the information from them are hampered by the large size of literature databases and the lack of widely accepted standard notation for biomedical entities. Thus, automatic systems for the identification of citations of allelic variants of genes in biomedical texts are required. Results: Our group has previously reported the development of OSIRIS, a system aimed at the retrieval of literature about allelic variants of genes http://ibi.imim.es/osirisform.html. Here we describe the development of a new version of OSIRIS (OSIRISv1.2, http://ibi.imim.es/OSIRISv1.2.html webcite) which incorporates a new entity recognition module and is built on top of a local mirror of the MEDLINE collection and HgenetInfoDB: a database that collects data on human gene sequence variations. The new entity recognition module is based on a pattern-based search algorithm for the identification of variation terms in the texts and their mapping to dbSNP identifiers. The performance of OSIRISv1.2 was evaluated on a manually annotated corpus, resulting in 99% precision, 82% recall, and an F-score of 0.89. As an example, the application of the system for collecting literature citations for the allelic variants of genes related to the diseases intracranial aneurysm and breast cancer is presented. Conclusion: OSIRISv1.2 can be used to link literature references to dbSNP database entries with high accuracy, and therefore is suitable for collecting current knowledge on gene sequence variations and supporting the functional annotation of variation databases. The application of OSIRISv1.2 in combination with controlled vocabularies like MeSH provides a way to identify associations of biomedical interest, such as those that relate SNPs with diseases.

BIMS: Biomedical Information Management System

This final year project presents the design principles and prototype implementation of BIMS (Biomedical Information Management System), a flexible software system which provides an infrastructure to manage all information required by biomedical research projects.The BIMS project was initiated with the motivation to solve several limitations in medical data acquisition of some research projects, in which Universitat Pompeu Fabra takes part. These limitations,based on the lack of control mechanisms to constraint information submitted by clinicians, impact on the data quality, decreasing it.BIMS can easily be adapted to manage information of a wide variety of clinical studies, not being limited to a given clinical specialty. The software can manage both, textual information, like clinical data (measurements, demographics, diagnostics, etc ...), as well as several kinds of medical images (magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, etc ...). Moreover, BIMS provides a web - based graphical user interface and is designed to be deployed in a distributed andmultiuser environment. It is built on top of open source software products and frameworks.Specifically, BIMS has been used to represent all clinical data being currently used within the CardioLab platform (an ongoing project managed by Universitat Pompeu Fabra), demonstratingthat it is a solid software system, which could fulfill requirements of a real production environment.

Compositional Data in Biomedical Research

Modern methods of compositional data analysis are not well known in biomedical research.Moreover, there appear to be few mathematical and statistical researchersworking on compositional biomedical problems. Like the earth and environmental sciences,biomedicine has many problems in which the relevant scienti c information isencoded in the relative abundance of key species or categories. I introduce three problemsin cancer research in which analysis of compositions plays an important role. Theproblems involve 1) the classi cation of serum proteomic pro les for early detection oflung cancer, 2) inference of the relative amounts of di erent tissue types in a diagnostictumor biopsy, and 3) the subcellular localization of the BRCA1 protein, and it'srole in breast cancer patient prognosis. For each of these problems I outline a partialsolution. However, none of these problems is \solved". I attempt to identify areas inwhich additional statistical development is needed with the hope of encouraging morecompositional data analysts to become involved in biomedical research

Biomedical and biological applications of scanning electron microscopy

This article summarizes the basic principles of scanning electron microscopy and the capabilities of the technique with different examples ofapplications in biomedical and biological research.

Why Mathematics is essential in Biomedical Sciences degree?

Improvement of mathematical education and motivation of students in the mathematics" area is needed. What can be done? We introduce some ideas to generate the student"s interest for mathematics, because they often present difficulties in appreciating the relevance of mathematics and its role in the health sciences. We consider that a cornerstone in the strategy to attract the students" interest is linking the mathematics with real biomedical situations. We proceed in the following manner: We first present a real biomedical situation to produce interest and to generate curiosity. Second, we ask thought-provoking questions to students as: Which is the biomedical problem presented? Which is my knowledge on this situation? What could I do to solve this biomedical situation? Do I need some new mathematical concepts and procedures? Thereupon, the teacher explains the mathematical concepts necessary to solve the case presented, providing definitions, properties and tools for graphical display and/or mathematical calculations. In this learning methodology, ICTs were cornerstones for reaching the proposed competences. Furthermore, ICTs can also be used in the evaluative task in its two possible aspects: formative and for obtaining a qualification. Comments from students about this new mathematics teaching method indicate that the use of real biomedical case studies kept the lessons in mathematics interesting.

Statistical Reviewers Improve Reporting in Biomedical Articles: a Randomized Trial.

Background. Although peer review is widely considered to be the most credible way of selecting manuscripts and improving the quality of accepted papers in scientific journals, there is little evidence to support its use. Our aim was to estimate the effects on manuscript quality of either adding a statistical peer reviewer or suggesting the use of checklists such as CONSORT or STARD to clinical reviewers or both. Methodology and Principal Findings. Interventions were defined as 1) the addition of a statistical reviewer to the clinical peer review process, and 2) suggesting reporting guidelines to reviewers; with"no statistical expert" and"no checklist" as controls. The two interventions were crossed in a 262 balanced factorial design including original research articles consecutively selected, between May 2004 and March 2005, by the Medicina Clinica (Barc) editorial committee. We randomized manuscripts to minimize differences in terms of baseline quality and type of study (intervention, longitudinal, cross-sectional, others). Sample-size calculations indicated that 100 papers provide an 80% power to test a 55% standardized difference. We specified the main outcome as the increment in quality of papers as measured on the Goodman Scale. Two blinded evaluators rated the quality of manuscripts at initial submission and final post peer review version. Of the 327 manuscripts submitted to the journal, 131 were accepted for further review, and 129 were randomized. Of those, 14 that were lost to follow-up showed no differences in initial quality to the followed-up papers. Hence, 115 were included in the main analysis, with 16 rejected for publication after peer review. 21 (18.3%) of the 115 included papers were interventions, 46 (40.0%) were longitudinal designs, 28 (24.3%) cross-sectional and 20 (17.4%) others. The 16 (13.9%) rejected papers had a significantly lower initial score on the overall Goodman scale than accepted papers (difference 15.0, 95% CI: 4.6- 24.4). The effect of suggesting a guideline to the reviewers had no effect on change in overall quality as measured by the Goodman scale (0.9, 95% CI: 20.3+2.1). The estimated effect of adding a statistical reviewer was 5.5 (95% CI: 4.3-6.7), showing a significant improvement in quality. Conclusions and Significance. This prospective randomized study shows the positive effect of adding a statistical reviewer to the field-expert peers in improving manuscript quality. We did not find a statistically significant positive effect by suggesting reviewers use reporting guidelines.

Micro- and nanostructuring of poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalate) surfaces, for biomedical applications, using polymer replication techniques

Here we investigate the formation of superficial micro- and nanostructures in poly(ethylene-2,6-naphthalate) (PEN), with a view to their use in biomedical device applications, and compare its performance with a polymer commonly used for the fabrication of these devices, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA). The PEN is found to replicate both micro- and nanostructures in its surface, albeit requiring more forceful replication conditions than PMMA, producing a slight increase in surface hydrophilicity. This ability to form micro/nanostructures, allied to biocompatibility and good optical transparency, suggests that PEN could be a useful material for production of, or for incorporation into, transparent devices for biomedical applications. Such devices will be able to be autoclaved, due to the polymer's high temperature stability, and will be useful for applications where forceful experimental conditions are required, due to a superior chemical resistance over PMMA.

Internal promotion versus external recruitment: evidence in industrial plants

An analysis is carried out in a sample of 738 industrial plants of the determining factors in the use of internal promotion of blue-collar workers to middle managers and skilled technicians as against their external recruitment. The use of internal promotion is positively correlated with variables indicative of the efforts made by plants to measure employees' skills, and to a lesser extent, with the level of specificity of investments in human capital made by blue-collar workers. Contrary to what was expected, variables related with the use and efficiency of other incentive systems have no significant influence on the increased or decreased use of internal promotion. These results are initial evidence that internal promotions are used to protect and favour specific investments, especially those made by firms in order to discover their workers' skills.

Juegos Olímpicos Barcelona'92: identificación, procedencia y selección de los recursos humanos del control de las competiciones

Documento publicado por el CEO-UAB como parte de la colección Working Papers, con el objetivo de identificar a los integrantes de la familia arbitral, en unos Juegos Olímpicos, y realizar una correcta selección de técnicos.

Proyecto de formación ambiental en el municipio de Concepción Las Minas: Concepción Las Minas, Chiquimula, Guatemala

El presente trabajo pretende implantar un proyecto de formación ambiental y, a la vez, crear el marco físico y social para que así sea. De esta forma, se darán a conocer y mejorarán los conocimientos ambientales en la población del municipio de Concepción Las Minas, con el fin de que puedan mejorar sus técnicas a la hora de gestionar su territorio y, a la vez, ampliar sus conocimientos ambientales, útiles en el campo de la educación. Para realizar estas capacitaciones fue necesaria una descripción del territorio junto con un análisis de las principales problemáticas ambientales municipales. Se realizaron sondeos a la población para valorar su nivel de conocimientos ambientales. Con toda la información recogida, se planificaron una serie de sesiones formativas destinadas a maestros, niños y técnicos ambientales. Las sesiones trataban de formar y a la vez concienciar sobre temas generadores tales como el recurso hídrico, forestal, gestión de residuos, etc. Estas capacitaciones se dieron tanto a nivel teórico como a nivel práctico. La valoración global de las capacitaciones es positiva. Cabe destacar un alto grado de participación por parte de los maestros y los alumnos de las escuelas municipales, mostrando una gran implicación en las distintas sesiones. Contrariamente, no se obtuvo el mismo resultado con el colectivo de técnicos municipales, ya que faltó tiempo y planificación.

ZigBee aplicado a la transmisión de datos de sensores biomédicos

Pensado en un ámbito de tecnología médica, el propósito principal es el de realizar un seguido de medidas en diferentes partes del cuerpo para establecer unos valores máximos que nos permitan detectar cuando un paciente empieza a padecer estrés. Para ello se necesita un proceso de medición y otro de transmisión de los datos. Es aquí donde aparece el trabajo realizado en el proyecto. “ZigBee aplicado a la transmisión de datos de sensores biomédicos” está pensado para realizar la tarea de transmisión de los datos desde que el sensor realiza la medida hasta que los datos son monitorizados y almacenados. En la memoria del proyecto podremos encontrar el estudio realizado al medio de transmisión inalámbrico utilizado (ZigBee), el análisis del kit eZ430-RF2500 compatible con el medio, y finalmente la implementación del proyecto. Todo este trabajo finalizará con la recepción satisfactoria de los datos medidos por nuestro sensor biomédico (oxímetro) en el aplicativo personal programado con Visual Basic.

Els arbres singulars del Parc Natural de l'Alt Pirineu: estudi i proposta d'educació ambiental

Aquest estudi s’ha realitzat amb el principal objectiu de localitzar, analitzar i diagnosticar els arbres singulars subjectes a ser declarats monumentals dins el Parc Natural de l’Alt Pirineu. Concretament s’han inventariat la Vall Ferrera i la Vall de Cardós. L’objectiu secundari ha estat fer una proposta innovadora d’educació ambiental, utilitzant l’arbre com a un instrument pedagògic. S’han inventariat vint-i-tres arbres sent un d’ells ja declarat Arbre Monumental, “l’Avet del Pla de la Selva”. Primerament s’han localitzats els arbres amb l’ajuda dels tècnics del Parc, el coneixement popular i documentació. S’ha utilitzat una metodologia basada en estudis anteriors, mitjançant uns formularis de camp que recullen totes les característiques ecològiques i socioculturals de cada arbre. Posteriorment s’han analitzat les dades obtingudes i s’ha realitzat la diagnosi. S’ha proposat un mètode quantitatiu i un mètode qualitatiu (Rànquing d’Arbres Monumentals). Aquest últim valora cada arbre comparant-lo amb un llistat de tots aquells arbres monumentals de la mateixa espècie en el territori català realitzat per la Generalitat de Catalunya, segons tres paràmetres, l’alçada, el volt de canó i el diàmetre de la capçada. Finalment es proposa a cada arbre la protecció corresponent segons el seu estat de conservació i altres paràmetres. Un dels resultats obtinguts d’aquest estudi ha estat la realització d’una carpeta de material divulgatiu utilitzant cada arbre com a eix central per explicar el medi natural que l’envolta. Amb aquesta iniciativa es vol destacar l’important paper dels arbres monumentals com a connectors amb el medi natural i sociocultural i la necessitat de protegir en tots els Parcs Naturals els arbres singulars.

Producció de material docent per a ciència de materials mitjançant microscòpia electrònica de rastreig i làser confocal

Aquest projecte s'ha realitzat al Servei de Microscòpia de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, i ha tingut una durada de dos anys (2006-2008). La finalitat d’aquest projecte ha estat l’elaboració de material didàctic basat en la captació d’imatges i l’edició de recursos pedagògics de suport digital aplicats a la ciència de materials. Es pretén millorar així la qualitat docent de les pràctiques de diverses assignatures dels ensenyaments de Física i d’Enginyeria de Materials utilitzant tècniques d’anàlisi actuals com són la Microscòpia Electrònica de Rastreig (MER) i la Microscòpia Optica (MO). Amb aquest projecte es vol fomentar també el treball interdisciplinari en equip entre professionals (docents i tècnics superiors de recerca) i acostar la teoria de les assignatures a la realització pràctica, facilitant el suport digital necessari per aconseguir un màxim aprofitament a les aules. Les imatges de MER i MO ajudaran als alumnes a familiaritzar-se amb el món de la recerca i la indústria.