Economic evaluation of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system for the treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding in Spain

To compare the cost and effectiveness of the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system (LNG-IUS) versus combined oral contraception (COC) and progestogens (PROG) in first-line treatment of dysfunctional uterine bleeding (DUB) in Spain. STUDY DESIGN: A cost-effectiveness and cost-utility analysis of LNG-IUS, COC and PROG was carried out using a Markov model based on clinical data from the literature and expert opinion. The population studied were women with a previous diagnosis of idiopathic heavy menstrual bleeding. The analysis was performed from the National Health System perspective, discounting both costs and future effects at 3%. In addition, a sensitivity analysis (univariate and probabilistic) was conducted. RESULTS: The results show that the greater efficacy of LNG-IUS translates into a gain of 1.92 and 3.89 symptom-free months (SFM) after six months of treatment versus COC and PROG, respectively (which represents an increase of 33% and 60% of symptom-free time). Regarding costs, LNG-IUS produces savings of 174.2-309.95 and 230.54-577.61 versus COC and PROG, respectively, after 6 months-5 years. Apart from cost savings and gains in SFM, quality-adjusted life months (QALM) are also favourable to LNG-IUS in all scenarios, with a range of gains between 1 and 2 QALM compared to COC and PROG. CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate that first-line use of the LNG-IUS is the dominant therapeutic option (less costly and more effective) in comparison with first-line use of COC or PROG for the treatment of DUB in Spain. LNG-IUS as first line is also the option that provides greatest health-related quality of life to patients.

Effect of neurotrophic factor, MDP, on rats’ nerve regeneration

Our objective was to determine the immune-modulating effects of the neurotrophic factor N-acetylmuramyl-L-alanyl-D-isoglutamine (MDP) on median nerve regeneration in rats. We used male Wistar rats (120-140 days of age, weighing 250-332 g) and compared the results of three different techniques of nerve repair: 1) epineural neurorrhaphy using sutures alone (group S - 10 rats), 2) epineural neurorrhaphy using sutures plus fibrin tissue adhesive (FTA; group SF - 20 rats), and 3) sutures plus FTA, with MDP added to the FTA (group SFM - 20 rats). Functional assessments using the grasp test were performed weekly for 12 weeks to identify recovery of flexor muscle function in the fingers secondary to median nerve regeneration. Histological analysis was also utilized. The total number and diameter of myelinated fibers were determined in each proximal and distal nerve segment. Two indices, reported as percentage, were calculated from these parameters, namely, the regeneration index and the diameter change index. By the 8th week, superiority of group SFM over group S became apparent in the grasping test (P = 0.005). By the 12th week, rats that had received MDP were superior in the grasping test compared to both group S (P < 0.001) and group SF (P = 0.001). Moreover, group SF was better in the grasping test than group S (P = 0.014). However, no significant differences between groups were identified by histological analysis. In the present study, rats that had received MDP obtained better function, in the absence of any significant histological differences.

La morphologie du pluriel nominal du persan d’après la théorie Whole Word Morphology

Ce mémoire présente une étude de la morphologie de ce qui est généralement appelé le pluriel nominal du persan (parler de Téhéran) dans le cadre d’une théorie de la morphologie basée sur le mot : Whole Word Morphology, développée par Ford et Singh (1991). Ce modèle lexicaliste adopte une position plus forte que les modèles proposés par Aronoff (1976) et Anderson (1992) en n’admettant aucune opération morphologique sur des unités plus petites que le mot. Selon cette théorie, une description morphologique consiste en l’énumération des Stratégies de Formation de Mots (SFM), licencées chacunes par au moins deux paires de mots ayant la même covariation formelle et sémantique. Tous les SFM suit le même schéma. Nous avons répertorié 49 SFM regroupant les pluriels et les collectifs. Nous constatons qu’il est difficile de saisir le pluriel nominal du persan en tant que catégorie syntaxique et que les différentes « marques du pluriel » présentées dans la littérature ne constituent pas un ensemble homogène : elles partagent toutes un sens de pluralité qui cependant varie d’une interprétation référentielle à une interprétation collective non-référentielle. Cette étude vise la déscription de la compétence morphologique, ce qui ne dépend d’aucune considération extralinguistique. Nous argumentons notamment contre la dichotomie arabe/persan généralement admise dans la littérature. Nous avons également fourni des explications quant à la production des pluriels doubles et avons discuté de la variation supposée du fait d’un choix multiple de « marques du pluriel ».

De la modélisation à la quantification par ultrasons de l'agrégation érythrocytaire

Le travail a été réalisé en collaboration avec le laboratoire de mécanique acoustique de Marseille, France. Les simulations ont été menées avec les langages Matlab et C. Ce projet s'inscrit dans le champ de recherche dénommé caractérisation tissulaire par ultrasons.

Influence of the buffer environment on the Relative Biological Effectiveness of carbon ion radiation, investigated by Scanning Force Microscopy and gel electrophoresis

This work focuses on the analysis of the influence of environment on the relative biological effectiveness (RBE) of carbon ions on molecular level. Due to the high relevance of RBE for medical applications, such as tumor therapy, and radiation protection in space, DNA damages have been investigated in order to understand the biological efficiency of heavy ion radiation. The contribution of this study to the radiobiology research consists in the analysis of plasmid DNA damages induced by carbon ion radiation in biochemical buffer environments, as well as in the calculation of the RBE of carbon ions on DNA level by mean of scanning force microscopy (SFM). In order to study the DNA damages, besides the common electrophoresis method, a new approach has been developed by using SFM. The latter method allows direct visualisation and measurement of individual DNA fragments with an accuracy of several nanometres. In addition, comparison of the results obtained by SFM and agarose gel electrophoresis methods has been performed in the present study. Sparsely ionising radiation, such as X-rays, and densely ionising radiation, such as carbon ions, have been used to irradiate plasmid DNA in trishydroxymethylaminomethane (Tris buffer) and 4-(2-hydroxyethyl)-1-piperazineethanesulfonic acid (HEPES buffer) environments. These buffer environments exhibit different scavenging capacities for hydroxyl radical (HO0), which is produced by ionisation of water and plays the major role in the indirect DNA damage processes. Fragment distributions have been measured by SFM over a large length range, and as expected, a significantly higher degree of DNA damages was observed for increasing dose. Also a higher amount of double-strand breaks (DSBs) was observed after irradiation with carbon ions compared to X-ray irradiation. The results obtained from SFM measurements show that both types of radiation induce multiple fragmentation of the plasmid DNA in the dose range from D = 250 Gy to D = 1500 Gy. Using Tris environments at two different concentrations, a decrease of the relative biological effectiveness with the rise of Tris concentration was observed. This demonstrates the radioprotective behavior of the Tris buffer solution. In contrast, a lower scavenging capacity for all other free radicals and ions, produced by the ionisation of water, was registered in the case of HEPES buffer compared to Tris solution. This is reflected in the higher RBE values deduced from SFM and gel electrophoresis measurements after irradiation of the plasmid DNA in 20 mM HEPES environment compared to 92 mM Tris solution. These results show that HEPES and Tris environments play a major role on preventing the indirect DNA damages induced by ionising radiation and on the relative biological effectiveness of heavy ion radiation. In general, the RBE calculated from the SFM measurements presents higher values compared to gel electrophoresis data, for plasmids irradiated in all environments. Using a large set of data, obtained from the SFM measurements, it was possible to calculate the survive rate over a larger range, from 88% to 98%, while for gel electrophoresis measurements the survive rates have been calculated only for values between 96% and 99%. While the gel electrophoresis measurements provide information only about the percentage of plasmids DNA that suffered a single DSB, SFM can count the small plasmid fragments produced by multiple DSBs induced in a single plasmid. Consequently, SFM generates more detailed information regarding the amount of the induced DSBs compared to gel electrophoresis, and therefore, RBE can be calculated with more accuracy. Thus, SFM has been proven to be a more precise method to characterize on molecular level the DNA damage induced by ionizing radiations.

Neuropsicolog??a de los pacientes con s??ndrome de fibromialgia : relaci??n con dolor y ansiedad

Resumen tomado de la publicaci??n

Recovering Euclidean deformable models from stereo-motion

In this paper we present a novel structure from motion (SfM) approach able to infer 3D deformable models from uncalibrated stereo images. Using a stereo setup dramatically improves the 3D model estimation when the observed 3D shape is mostly deforming without undergoing strong rigid motion. Our approach first calibrates the stereo system automatically and then computes a single metric rigid structure for each frame. Afterwards, these 3D shapes are aligned to a reference view using a RANSAC method in order to compute the mean shape of the object and to select the subset of points on the object which have remained rigid throughout the sequence without deforming. The selected rigid points are then used to compute frame-wise shape registration and to extract the motion parameters robustly from frame to frame. Finally, all this information is used in a global optimization stage with bundle adjustment which allows to refine the frame-wise initial solution and also to recover the non-rigid 3D model. We show results on synthetic and real data that prove the performance of the proposed method even when there is no rigid motion in the original sequence

Spontaneous facial mimicry is modulated by joint attention and autistic traits

Joint attention (JA) and spontaneous facial mimicry (SFM) are fundamental processes in social interactions, and they are closely related to empathic abilities. When tested independently, both of these processes have been usually observed to be atypical in individuals with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). However, it is not known how these processes interact with each other in relation to autistic traits. This study addresses this question by testing the impact of JA on SFM of happy faces using a truly interactive paradigm. Sixty-two neurotypical participants engaged in gaze-based social interaction with an anthropomorphic, gaze-contingent virtual agent. The agent either established JA by initiating eye contact or looked away, before looking at an object and expressing happiness or disgust. Eye tracking was used to make the agent's gaze behavior and facial actions contingent to the participants' gaze. SFM of happy expressions was measured by Electromyography (EMG) recording over the Zygomaticus Major muscle. Results showed that JA augments SFM in individuals with low compared with high autistic traits. These findings are in line with reports of reduced impact of JA on action imitation in individuals with ASC. Moreover, they suggest that investigating atypical interactions between empathic processes, instead of testing these processes individually, might be crucial to understanding the nature of social deficits in autism

Odometria visual baseada em técnicas de structure from motion

Visual Odometry is the process that estimates camera position and orientation based solely on images and in features (projections of visual landmarks present in the scene) extraced from them. With the increasing advance of Computer Vision algorithms and computer processing power, the subarea known as Structure from Motion (SFM) started to supply mathematical tools composing localization systems for robotics and Augmented Reality applications, in contrast with its initial purpose of being used in inherently offline solutions aiming 3D reconstruction and image based modelling. In that way, this work proposes a pipeline to obtain relative position featuring a previously calibrated camera as positional sensor and based entirely on models and algorithms from SFM. Techniques usually applied in camera localization systems such as Kalman filters and particle filters are not used, making unnecessary additional information like probabilistic models for camera state transition. Experiments assessing both 3D reconstruction quality and camera position estimated by the system were performed, in which image sequences captured in reallistic scenarios were processed and compared to localization data gathered from a mobile robotic platform

Use of Saponins as an Effective Surface Modifier in Cellulose Nanocomposites

The present paper deals with the extraction of saponins from the pericarp of Sapindus mukorossi to use as compatibilizer in nanocomposites. The nanofibrils extracted from banana fibres are utilized as reinforcement of nanocomposite. These nanofibers were treated with Saponin, GPS (3-Glycidoxypropyltrimethoxysilane) and APS (3-Aminopropyltriethoxysilane) to compare the effectiveness of surface treatment. The effectiveness of surface modification was reflected on the increase in mechanical (tensile test, flexural modulus, impact test) properties and decrease in the RMS (Roughness Measurement System) roughness investigation by SFM (Scanning force microscopy) analysis.