Statmedia 3 : activitats on-line individualitzades d'estadística i matemàtiques als ensenyaments de Ciències Experimentals i Socials

El projecte Statmedia 3 ha consolidat definitivament la proposta de les assignatures Bioestadística de Biologia, Anàlisi de dades de Ciències Ambientals i d’Estadística Matemàtica de la Diplomatura renovant una part del material creat amb Statmedia 2. S’han inclòs a més Matemàtiques d’Ambientals i Introducció a la Probabilitat del Grau d’Estadística. L’anterior MQD abastava només pràctiques mentre que aquest projecte permet una oferta diversa d’activitats individualitzades. La individualització consisteix en que cada estudiant rep una proposta de cas personalitzada amb dades diferents. Les activitats poden ser programades presencialment o no, però la clau de l’èxit de l’activitat és que l’alumne obtingui reconeixement del seu treball en l’avaluació continuada. La valoració que fan als alumnes de Statmedia és molt bo, i observem que es produeix una millora en els resultats acadèmics. Statmedia 3 ha implicat un important esforç en la vessant informàtica del projecte, la barreja de tecnologies que utilitzem son punteres: Ajax, servlets i applets Java... Hem posat a punt un assistent on-line per dissenyar documents i planificar activitats que facilita la tasca dels professors. La nostre participació en primera línea del procés de convergència a l’EEES ens ha permès anticipar alguns canvis, i s’ha traduït en que el claustre del Departament d’Estadística assumís que Statmedia és una metodologia essencial dels seus plans docents. El projecte continua en un quart projecte MQD consecutiu, on desplegarem la nova tecnologia implementada. L’objectiu principal serà dotar a les assignatures dels 7 graus on participa el departament d’activitats individualitzades en forma de casos pràctics, problemes i proves diverses. La col·lecció de material emmagatzemada en la nostra biblioteca, forjada després de quasi deu anys de treball continuat, juntament amb l’experiència acumulada de com utilitzar Statmedia de la forma més eficient han començat a ser explotades en els nous graus aquest mateix curs 2009-2010.

Sistema integral d’anàlisi i avaluació d’un format general d’assignatura específic dels estudis de les arts

En el període 2006-2008, l'equip investigador de l'Observatori sobre la Didàctica de les Arts (ODAS) s'ha concentrat en la innovació i la investigació en el camp de la didàctica aplicada als estudis universitaris de les arts. Des del punt de vista propi de la investigació-acció, la finalitat ha estat la de plantejar i explorar una revisió integral de l'organització del treball a peu d'aula que fos extensible a d'altres assignatures i matèries. Així, prenent com a eix l'aprenentatge dels estudiants, les accions escomeses es fonamentaren en sis premisses: integració —de sessions de treball i activitats d'aprenentatge—, diversitat —d'escenaris, recursos i materials didàctics—, equilibri —entre coneixements i habilitats específiques i transversals—, modularitat —de les parts constitutives de la innovació proposada—, aplicabilitat —a d'altres assignatures i matèries— i progressió en la seva posada en marxa. I sobre aquestes bases, hom va establir cinc línies de treball: l'organització del treball a l'aula i del treball guiat de l'estudiant en diferents tipus de sessions, l'organització del treball autònom de l'alumne des dels pressupòsits d'una avaluació continuada, la incorporació de les TIC com autèntics recursos d'ensenyament-aprenentatge, la col·laboració amb d'altres unitats de la Universitat de Barcelona que tinguessin entre els seus objectius l'impuls de l'aprenentatge, i el seguiment del procés d'implantació de la iniciativa didàctica i l'anàlisi regular dels seus resultats. Pel que fa a aquest darrer punt, en aquest primer període, hom ha prioritzat l'estudi de les dades quantitatives i quasi-quantitatives derivades del judici dels alumnes que participaren en la nova proposta didàctica. En conseqüència, la investigació va acomplir una primera funció diagnòstica de la innovació docent duta a terme, i es va enquadrar en la categoria dels estudis descriptius transversals a través d'enquestes amb mostres probabilístiques.

Establishment and Characterization of a Cell Line from the Mosquito Anopheles albimanus (Diptera: Culicidae)

A new cell line designated LSB-AA695BB, was established from embryos of the mosquito Anopheles albimanus. The primary culture was initiated in April, 1995, and the first passage was made 48 days later. Serial subcultures of the cells have been carried through 90 passages from Abril 1995 to February 1996. The cells were grown at 28°C in MK/VP12 medium, supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum; the pH tolerance ranged between 6.8 to 7.0. The cells have also been adapted to MM/VP12 medium under the same pH, temperature and serum concentration. The majority of the cells were a fibroblast-type. Isozyme characterization showed a pattern similar to that of An. albimanus pupae and adults but distinct from Ae. taeniorhynchus and Ae. albopictus (C6/36) mosquito cell lines. The culture was shown to be free of mycoplasma, bacteria and fungi. Microsporidia contamination of transovarial transmission was controlled with 6.0 mg/ml of albendazole

Phase II study of weekly plitidepsin as second-line therapy for small cell lung cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the antitumor activity and safety profile of plitidepsin administered as a 1h weekly intravenous (i.v.) infusion of 3.2mg/m(2) to patients with small cell lung cancer (SCLC) who relapsed or progressed after one line of chemotherapy. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a multicenter, open-label, single-arm, exploratory, phase II clinical trial. Treatment lasted until disease progression, unacceptable toxicity, patient refusal or treatment delay for >2 weeks. Objective response rate (primary efficacy endpoint) was evaluated according to response evaluation criteria in solid tumors (RECIST). The rate of stable disease (SD) lasting for at least 6 months and time-to-event variables were secondary endpoints of efficacy. Toxicity was assessed using National Cancer Institute Common Toxicity Criteria (NCI-CTC) version 2.0. RESULTS: Twenty pretreated SCLC patients (median age, 60 years) with extensive (n=13) or limited-stage disease (n=7) received a total of 24 treatment cycles (median, one cycle per patient; range, 1-2). Objective tumor responses were not observed and only one of the 17 evaluable patients had SD. With a median follow-up of 11.8 months, the progression-free survival and the median overall survival were 1.3 months and 4.8 months, respectively. The most troubling or common toxicities were fatigue, muscle weakness, lymphopenia, anemia (no patients showed neutropenia), and asymptomatic, non-cumulative increase of transaminases levels and alkaline phosphatase. CONCLUSION: This clinical trial shows that a cycle of 1h weekly i.v. infusion of plitidepsin (3.2mg/m(2)) was generally well tolerated other than fatigue and muscle weakness in patients with pretreated SCLC. One patient died due to multi-organ failure. The absence of antitumor activity found here precludes further studies of this plitidepsin schedule as second-line single-agent treatment of SCLC.

Producing on-line ultrapure dialysis fluid.

The process of on-line generation of ultrapure dialysis fluid is a core prerequisite for the safe execution of modern renal replacement therapies such as on-line hemodiafiltration and high-flux hemodialysis. In these extracorporeal treatments with variable degrees of convection, significant volumes of plasma water are removed and replaced with dialysis fluid, which must occur without causing harm to the patient. Historically, on-line generation of sterile and pyrogen-free physiological substitution fluid by the process of membrane ultrafiltration of fresh dialysis fluid has its origin in hemofiltration, a purely convective therapy. Development of this and later therapies is described in the historical context of a successful effort over decades to overcome the above formidable challenge, which was provided jointly by pioneering clinical investigators and a resourceful dialysis industry.

Autoavaluació de la seguretat integral en centres educatius: memòria justificativa

Cada vegada són més els autors que remarquen la necessitat de que les organitzacions (i, particularment, les empreses) avaluïn els riscos per a la seguretat i la salut i que adoptin mesures per a evitar o controlar els riscos, des de l’aparició de la Directiva 89/391CEE de la Unió Europea, relativa a l’aplicació de mesures per a promoure la millora de la seguretat i la salut dels treballadors en el seu lloc de treball. A Espanya, el tema de la seguretat i la prevenció de riscos laborals va guanyant importància en el terreny social i econòmic des de l’aparició de la Llei de Prevenció de Riscos Laborals l’any 1995, també en els centres educatius, on cada vegada es parla més de la salut laboral dels docents, del nivell de seguretat en els centres educatius i dels riscos als quals s’exposen diàriament els alumnes, professors i personal d’administració i serveis. El present informe sintetitza el procés seguit per a la confecció de l’instrument d’autoavaluació de la seguretat integral en centres educatius.

VeriStrat(®) has a prognostic value for patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer treated with erlotinib and bevacizumab in the first line: Pooled analysis of SAKK19/05 and NTR528.

BACKGROUND: VeriStrat(®) is a serum proteomic test used to determine whether patients with advanced non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have already received chemotherapy are likely to have good or poor outcomes from treatment with gefitinib or erlotinib. The main objective of our retrospective study was to evaluate the role of VS as a marker of overall survival (OS) in patients treated with erlotinib and bevacizumab in the first line. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Patients were pooled from two phase II trials (SAKK19/05 and NTR528). For survival analyses, a log-rank test was used to determine if there was a statistically significant difference between groups. The hazard ratio (HR) of any separation was assessed using Cox proportional hazards models. RESULTS: 117 patients were analyzed. VeriStrat classified patients into two groups which had a statistically significant difference in duration of OS (p=0.0027, HR=0.480, 95% confidence interval: 0.294-0.784). CONCLUSION: VeriStrat has a prognostic role in patients with advanced, nonsquamous NSCLC treated with erlotinib and bevacizumab in the first line. Further work is needed to study the predictive role of VeriStrat for erlotinib and bevacizumab in chemotherapy-untreated patients.

Line search multilevel optimization as computational methods for dense optical flow

We evaluate the performance of different optimization techniques developed in the context of optical flowcomputation with different variational models. In particular, based on truncated Newton methods (TN) that have been an effective approach for large-scale unconstrained optimization, we develop the use of efficient multilevel schemes for computing the optical flow. More precisely, we evaluate the performance of a standard unidirectional multilevel algorithm - called multiresolution optimization (MR/OPT), to a bidrectional multilevel algorithm - called full multigrid optimization (FMG/OPT). The FMG/OPT algorithm treats the coarse grid correction as an optimization search direction and eventually scales it using a line search. Experimental results on different image sequences using four models of optical flow computation show that the FMG/OPT algorithm outperforms both the TN and MR/OPT algorithms in terms of the computational work and the quality of the optical flow estimation.

Characterization of the effects of IL-17F on CHO cell line generation

CHO is the most commonly used mammalian host for the generation of cell lines allowing for the production of high quality therapeutic proteins. The generation of such cell lines is a lengthy and resource-intensive process requiring extensive screening in order to isolate candidates with optimal characteristics, such as growth, stability and productivity. For this reason, the biotechnology industry invests much effort in attempts to optimize CHO expression systems in order to streamline and shorten the cell line selection process. Based on preliminary observations of a facilitated selection of CHO-GS cell lines expressing members of the IL-17 cytokine family, this study investigates the use of IL-17F as a novel enhancing factor for CHO cell line generation. Using two different CHO expression systems (exploiting GS and DHFR-based selection), we demonstrated that IL-17F expression caused a significant increase in the occurrence of colonies during the selection process. All colonies selected produced substantial amounts of IL-17F, suggesting that benefits were conferred, during selection, to those cells expressing the cytokine. Furthermore, transgene expression levels were significantly increased when the selection pressure was raised to a level that would not normally be permissive for colony selection (i.e. 100 |o.M MSX for the CHO-GS expression system or 1000 nM MTX for the CHO-DHFR system). Finally, IL-17F expression was also found to enhance the rate of appearance of clones during single cell subcloning in the absence of selection pressure. Overall, these benefits have the potential to allow a substantial reduction in the length of cell line generation while significantly increasing cell line productivity. Nevertheless, we found that the high IL-17F expression levels required to convey enhancing effects was a limitation when attempting to co-express IL-17F and a recombinant soluble protein of therapeutic interest from independent CMV promoters within the same expression vector. In order to understand and overcome this limitation, studies were designed to characterize the IL-17F enhancing effect at the molecular and cellular level. Regular supplementation of recombinant biologically-active IL-17F into the culture medium during cell line selection was not able to reproduce the enhancing effects of endogenous IL-17F expression. In addition, increased IL-17F expression correlated with increased CHO-GS selection transgene expression at the single cell level. This data suggested a possible effect of IL-17F on viral promoter activity or transgene mRNA stability. It also provided direct evidence that the cells expressing the highest amounts of IL-17F obtained the most benefit. Overall data obtained from these study implied that IL-17F may act through an intracellular mechanism, possibly exerted during secretion. We therefore initiated experiments designed to determine the specific compartment(s) within which IL-17F triggers its effect. This work has identified IL-17F as a potentially powerful tool to optimize the CHO cell line generation process. The characterization of this enhancing effect at the molecular level has given us several insights into overcoming the current limitations, thus paving the way for the development of a viable technology that can be exploited within the biotechnology industry. - La CHO est la cellule hôte de mammifere la plus couramment utilisée dans la création de lignée cellulaire produisant des protéines thérapeutiques de haute qualité. La génération de ces lignées cellulaires est un processus long et exigeant l'utilisation de techniques de sélection robustes afin d'isoler des candidats possédants les caractéristiques optimales de croissance, de productivité et de stabilité d'expression. Les industries biopharmaceutiques ont investi beaucoup d'efforts afin d'optimiser les systèmes d'expression CHO dans le but raccourcir la longueur du procédé de sélection de lignées cellulaires et aussi d'en augmenter l'efficacité. A partir d'observations préliminaires obtenues lors de la génération de lignées cellulaires CHO- GS exprimant une cytokine appartenant à la famille des IL-17, nous avons réalisé une étude portant sur l'utilisation de l'IL-17F humaine (IL-17F) comme nouveau facteur d'optimisation pour la génération de lignées cellulaires CHO. Nous avons démontré, en utilisant les deux systèmes de sélection et d'expression CHO couramment utilisés (le premier exploitant la GS et l'autre basée sur la DHFR), que l'expression de l'IL-17F permet une augmentation significative de la fréquence d'apparition de colonies durant le processus de sélection de lignées cellulaires. Les différentes colonies sélectionnées expriment des quantités substantielles d'IL-17F, suggérant un effet bénéfique lors de la sélection qui serait exclusivement conféré aux cellules exprimant la cytokine. En outre, le niveau d'expression du transgene se trouve significativement augmenté lorsque la pression de sélection est portée à un niveau habituellement trop élevé pour permettre la sélection de colonies (soit 100 |JM MSX pour le système d'expression CHO-GS ou 1000 nM MTX pour le système CHO- DHFR). Enfin, l'expression d'IL-17F permet également d'améliorer la vitesse d'apparition de clones pendant une étape de sous-clonage en l'absence de pression de sélection. L'ensemble de ces effets bénéfiques permettent une réduction substantielle de la durée de génération de lignées cellulaires tout en augmentant considérablement la productivité des lignées obtenues. Néanmoins, nous avons constaté que la nécessité d'exprimer des niveaux élevés d'IL-17F afin obtenir l'ensemble de ses effets bénéfiques devient une contrainte lors de l'utilisation d'un vecteur d'expression composé de deux promoteurs CMV indépendants pour la co-expression de la cytokine et d'une protéine soluble présentant un intérêt thérapeutique. Afin de mieux comprendre et de surmonter cette limitation, plusieurs études ont été effectuées dans le but de mieux caractériser l'effet de IL-17F au niveau subcellulaire. L'apport régulier en IL-17F recombinante et biologiquement active dans le milieu de culture lors de la sélection de lignées cellulaires ne permet pas de reproduire les effets bénéfiques observés par l'expression endogène d'IL-17F. En outre, nous avons constaté que, lors de l'utilisation du système CHO- GS, l'augmentation d'expression de 1TL-17F est corrélée à un accroissement de l'expression du marqueur de sélection au niveau cellulaire. Ces résultats suggèrent un possible effet d'IL- 17F sur l'activité des promoteurs viraux et ainsi fournissent une preuve directe que les cellules exprimant de haut niveau d'IL-17F sont celles qui en profitent le plus. L'ensemble de ces observations mettrait en avant que l'effet d'IL-17F se ferait selon un mécanisme intracellulaire. Nous avons donc étudié le(s) compartiment(s) spécifique(s) dans lequel IL-17F pourrait exercer son effet. Ce travail a permis de définir IL-17F comme un puissant outil pour l'optimisation des procédés de génération de lignées cellulaires CHO. La caractérisation de cette amélioration de l'effet au niveau moléculaire nous a donné plusieurs indications sur la manière de dépasser les limitations actuelles, ouvrant ainsi la voie au développement d'une technologie viable qui peut être exploitée pars l'industrie biotechnologique.

Application of the combined integral method to Stefan problems

In this paper we present a new, accurate form of the heat balance integral method, termed the Combined Integral Method (or CIM). The application of this method to Stefan problems is discussed. For simple test cases the results are compared with exact and asymptotic limits. In particular, it is shown that the CIM is more accurate than the second order, large Stefan number, perturbation solution for a wide range of Stefan numbers. In the initial examples it is shown that the CIM reduces the standard problem, consisting of a PDE defined over a domain specified by an ODE, to the solution of one or two algebraic equations. The latter examples, where the boundary temperature varies with time, reduce to a set of three first order ODEs.

Improving the accuracy of heat balance integral methods applied to thermal problems with time dependent boundary conditions

In this paper the two main drawbacks of the heat balance integral methods are examined. Firstly we investigate the choice of approximating function. For a standard polynomial form it is shown that combining the Heat Balance and Refined Integral methods to determine the power of the highest order term will either lead to the same, or more often, greatly improved accuracy on standard methods. Secondly we examine thermal problems with a time-dependent boundary condition. In doing so we develop a logarithmic approximating function. This new function allows us to model moving peaks in the temperature profile, a feature that previous heat balance methods cannot capture. If the boundary temperature varies so that at some time t & 0 it equals the far-field temperature, then standard methods predict that the temperature is everywhere at this constant value. The new method predicts the correct behaviour. It is also shown that this function provides even more accurate results, when coupled with the new CIM, than the polynomial profile. Analysis primarily focuses on a specified constant boundary temperature and is then extended to constant flux, Newton cooling and time dependent boundary conditions.

First-line temozolomide combined with bevacizumab in metastatic melanoma: a multicentre phase II trial (SAKK 50/07).

BACKGROUND: Oral temozolomide has shown similar efficacy to dacarbazine in phase III trials with median progression-free survival (PFS) of 2.1 months. Bevacizumab has an inhibitory effect on the proliferation of melanoma and sprouting endothelial cells. We evaluated the addition of bevacizumab to temozolomide to improve efficacy in stage IV melanoma. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Previously untreated metastatic melanoma patients with Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of two or more were treated with temozolomide 150 mg/m(2) days 1-7 orally and bevacizumab 10 mg/kg body weight i.v. day 1 every 2 weeks until disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. The primary end point was disease stabilisation rate [complete response (CR), partial response (PR) or stable disease (SD)] at week 12 (DSR12); secondary end points were best overall response, PFS, overall survival (OS) and adverse events. RESULTS: Sixty-two patients (median age 59 years) enrolled at nine Swiss centres. DSR12 was 52% (PR: 10 patients and SD: 22 patients). Confirmed overall response rate was 16.1% (CR: 1 patient and PR: 9 patients). Median PFS and OS were 4.2 and 9.6 months. OS (12.0 versus 9.2 months; P = 0.014) was higher in BRAF V600E wild-type patients. CONCLUSIONS: The primary end point was surpassed showing promising activity of this bevacizumab/temozolomide combination with a favourable toxicity profile. Response and OS were significantly higher in BRAF wild-type patients.

Entorn web per a consultes on-line sobre bases de dades d'imatges

Creació d'un entorn web que consisteix en un sistema per fer consultes en línia a bases de dades d'imatges. Aquestes consultes es fan per contingut, a partir de mètodes creats pel grup de recerca CAT (Color and Texture) del CVC (Centre de Visió per Computador). L'aplicació web permet afegir nous mètodes que els membres del grup han programat amb Matlab.

Outcome of long-axis percutaneous sacroplasty as first-line treatment of sacral insufficiency fractures : P219

Purpose: To assess the clinical outcome of patients who were subjected to long-axis sacroplasty as first line treatment for sacral insufficiency fractures. Methods and materials: Nineteen patients with unilateral (n = 3) or bilateral (n = 16) sacral fractures were involved. Under local anaesthesia, each patient was subjected to CT guided sacroplasty using the long-axis approach through a single entry point. An average of 6 ml of PMMA was delivered along the path of each sacral fracture. For each individual patient, the VAS pain score before sacroplasty and at 1, 4, 24, and 48 weeks after the procedure was obtained. Furthermore, the use of analgesics (narcotic/non-narcotic) along with the evolution of post interventional patient mobility before and after sacroplasty was also recorded. Results: The mean pre-procedure VAS score was 8 ± 1.9. This has rapidly declined in the first week after the procedure (mean 4 ± 1.5) followed by gradual decrease along the rest of follow-up period at 4 weeks (mean 3 ± 1.2), 24 weeks (mean 2 ± 1.3), and 48 weeks (mean 1.3 ± 1.4), respectively. Eleven (58%) patients were under narcotic analgesia before sacroplasty, whereas, 8 (42%) patients were using non-narcotics. Corresponding values after the procedure were 2/19 (10%) (narcotic) and 10/19 53% (non-narcotic). Seven (37%) patients did not address post-procedure analgesic use. The evolution of post interventional mobility was favourable in the study group since they revealed a significant improvement in their mobility point scale. Conclusion: Long-axis percutaneous sacroplasty is a suitable minimally invasive treatment option for patients who present with sacral insufficiency fractures. Future studies with larger patient number are warranted to grasp any potential limitations of this therapeutic approach.

Liquid line of descent of a basanitic liquid at 1.5 GPa: Constraints for metasomatic vein formation

The metasomatism observed in the oceanic and continental lithosphere is generally interpreted to represent a continuous differentiation process forming anhydrous and hydrous veins plus a cryptic enrichment in the surrounding peridotite. In order to constrain the mechanisms of vein formation and potentially clarify the nature and origin of the initial metasomatic agent, we performed a series of high-pressure experiments simulating the liquid line of descent of a basanitic magma differentiating within continental or mature oceanic lithosphere. This series of experiments has been conducted in an end-loaded piston cylinder apparatus starting from an initial hydrous ne-normative basanite at 1.5 GPa and temperature varying between 1,250 and 980°C. Near-pure fractional crystallization process was achieved in a stepwise manner in 30°C temperature steps and starting compositions corresponding to the liquid composition of the previous, higher-temperature glass composition. Liquids evolve progressively from basanite to peralkaline, aluminum-rich compositions without significant SiO2 variation. The resulting cumulates are characterized by an anhydrous clinopyroxene + olivine assemblage at high temperature (1,250-1,160°C), while at lower temperature (1,130-980°C), hydrous cumulates with dominantly amphibole + minor clinopyroxene, spinel, ilmenite, titanomagnetite and apatite (1,130-980°C) are formed. This new data set supports the interpretation that anhydrous and hydrous metasomatic veins could be produced during continuous differentiation processes of primary, hydrous alkaline magmas at high pressure. However, the comparison between the cumulates generated by the fractional crystallization from an initial ne-normative liquid or from hy-normative initial compositions (hawaiite or picrobasalt) indicates that for all hydrous liquids, the different phases formed upon differentiation are mostly similar even though the proportions of hydrous versus anhydrous minerals could vary significantly. This suggests that the formation of amphibole-bearing metasomatic veins observed in the lithospheric mantle could be linked to the differentiation of initial liquids ranging from ne-normative to hy-normative in composition. The present study does not resolve the question whether the metasomatism observed in lithospheric mantle is a precursor or a consequence of alkaline magmatism; however, it confirms that the percolation and differentiation of a liquid produced by a low degree of partial melting of a source similar or slightly more enriched than depleted MORB mantle could generate hydrous metasomatic veins interpreted as a potential source for alkaline magmatism by various authors.