All-cause mortality in the cohorts of the Spanish AIDS Research Network (RIS) compared with the general population: 1997-2010.

BACKGROUND Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has produced significant changes in mortality of HIV-infected persons. Our objective was to estimate mortality rates, standardized mortality ratios and excess mortality rates of cohorts of the AIDS Research Network (RIS) (CoRIS-MD and CoRIS) compared to the general population. METHODS We analysed data of CoRIS-MD and CoRIS cohorts from 1997 to 2010. We calculated: (i) all-cause mortality rates, (ii) standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and (iii) excess mortality rates for both cohort for 100 person-years (py) of follow-up, comparing all-cause mortality with that of the general population of similar age and gender. RESULTS Between 1997 and 2010, 8,214 HIV positive subjects were included, 2,453 (29.9%) in CoRIS-MD and 5,761 (70.1%) in CoRIS and 294 deaths were registered. All-cause mortality rate was 1.02 (95% CI 0.91-1.15) per 100 py, SMR was 6.8 (95% CI 5.9-7.9) and excess mortality rate was 0.8 (95% CI 0.7-0.9) per 100 py. Mortality was higher in patients with AIDS, hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection, and those from CoRIS-MD cohort (1997-2003). CONCLUSION Mortality among HIV-positive persons remains higher than that of the general population of similar age and sex, with significant differences depending on the history of AIDS or HCV coinfection.

Update on oral Chagas disease outbreaks in Venezuela: epidemiological, clinical and diagnostic approaches

Orally transmitted Chagas disease has become a matter of concern due to outbreaks reported in four Latin American countries. Although several mechanisms for orally transmitted Chagas disease transmission have been proposed, food and beverages contaminated with whole infected triatomines or their faeces, which contain metacyclic trypomastigotes of Trypanosoma cruzi, seems to be the primary vehicle. In 2007, the first recognised outbreak of orally transmitted Chagas disease occurred in Venezuela and largest recorded outbreak at that time. Since then, 10 outbreaks (four in Caracas) with 249 cases (73.5% children) and 4% mortality have occurred. The absence of contact with the vector and of traditional cutaneous and Romana’s signs, together with a florid spectrum of clinical manifestations during the acute phase, confuse the diagnosis of orally transmitted Chagas disease with other infectious diseases. The simultaneous detection of IgG and IgM by ELISA and the search for parasites in all individuals at risk have been valuable diagnostic tools for detecting acute cases. Follow-up studies regarding the microepidemics primarily affecting children has resulted in 70% infection persistence six years after anti-parasitic treatment. Panstrongylus geniculatushas been the incriminating vector in most cases. As a food-borne disease, this entity requires epidemiological, clinical, diagnostic and therapeutic approaches that differ from those approaches used for traditional direct or cutaneous vector transmission.

Trends in socioeconomic inequalities in preventable mortality in urban areas of 33 Spanish cities, 1996-2007 (MEDEA project).

Abstract Background: Preventable mortality is a good indicator of possible problems to be investigated in the primary prevention chain, making it also a useful tool with which to evaluate health policies particularly public health policies. This study describes inequalities in preventable avoidable mortality in relation to socioeconomic status in small urban areas of thirty three Spanish cities, and analyses their evolution over the course of the periods 1996–2001 and 2002–2007. Methods: We analysed census tracts and all deaths occurring in the population residing in these cities from 1996 to 2007 were taken into account. The causes included in the study were lung cancer, cirrhosis, AIDS/HIV, motor vehicle traffic accidents injuries, suicide and homicide. The census tracts were classified into three groups, according their socioeconomic level. To analyse inequalities in mortality risks between the highest and lowest socioeconomic levels and over different periods, for each city and separating by sex, Poisson regression were used. Results: Preventable avoidable mortality made a significant contribution to general mortality (around 7.5%, higher among men), having decreased over time in men (12.7 in 1996–2001 and 10.9 in 2002–2007), though not so clearly among women (3.3% in 1996–2001 and 2.9% in 2002–2007). It has been observed in men that the risks of death are higher in areas of greater deprivation, and that these excesses have not modified over time. The result in women is different and differences in mortality risks by socioeconomic level could not be established in many cities. Conclusions: Preventable mortality decreased between the 1996–2001 and 2002–2007 periods, more markedly in men than in women. There were socioeconomic inequalities in mortality in most cities analysed, associating a higher risk of death with higher levels of deprivation. Inequalities have remained over the two periods analysed. This study makes it possible to identify those areas where excess preventable mortality was associated with more deprived zones. It is in these deprived zones where actions to reduce and monitor health inequalities should be put into place. Primary healthcare may play an important role in this process. Keywords: Preventable avoidable mortality, Causes of death, Inequalities in health, Small area analysis

Detection of all four dengue serotypes in Aedes aegypti female mosquitoes collected in a rural area in Colombia

The Aedes aegypti vector for dengue virus (DENV) has been reported in urban and periurban areas. The information about DENV circulation in mosquitoes in Colombian rural areas is limited, so we aimed to evaluate the presence of DENV in Ae. aegypti females caught in rural locations of two Colombian municipalities, Anapoima and La Mesa. Mosquitoes from 497 rural households in 44 different rural settlements were collected. Pools of about 20 Ae. aegypti females were processed for DENV serotype detection. DENV in mosquitoes was detected in 74% of the analysed settlements with a pool positivity rate of 62%. The estimated individual mosquito infection rate was 4.12% and the minimum infection rate was 33.3/1,000 mosquitoes. All four serotypes were detected; the most frequent being DENV-2 (50%) and DENV-1 (35%). Two-three serotypes were detected simultaneously in separate pools. This is the first report on the co-occurrence of natural DENV infection of mosquitoes in Colombian rural areas. The findings are important for understanding dengue transmission and planning control strategies. A potential latent virus reservoir in rural areas could spill over to urban areas during population movements. Detecting DENV in wild-caught adult mosquitoes should be included in the development of dengue epidemic forecasting models.

Positioning an underwater vehicle through image mosaicking

Mosaics have been commonly used as visual maps for undersea exploration and navigation. The position and orientation of an underwater vehicle can be calculated by integrating the apparent motion of the images which form the mosaic. A feature-based mosaicking method is proposed in this paper. The creation of the mosaic is accomplished in four stages: feature selection and matching, detection of points describing the dominant motion, homography computation and mosaic construction. In this work we demonstrate that the use of color and textures as discriminative properties of the image can improve, to a large extent, the accuracy of the constructed mosaic. The system is able to provide 3D metric information concerning the vehicle motion using the knowledge of the intrinsic parameters of the camera while integrating the measurements of an ultrasonic sensor. The experimental results of real images have been tested on the GARBI underwater vehicle

Species distributions and interactions in a changing world : from understanding to forecasting

Les écosystèmes fournissent de nombreuses ressources et services écologiques qui sont utiles à la population humaine. La biodiversité est une composante essentielle des écosystèmes et maintient de nombreux services. Afin d'assurer la permanence des services écosystémiques, des mesures doivent être prises pour conserver la biodiversité. Dans ce but, l'acquisition d'informations détaillées sur la distribution de la biodiversité dans l'espace est essentielle. Les modèles de distribution d'espèces (SDMs) sont des modèles empiriques qui mettent en lien des observations de terrain (présences ou absences d'une espèce) avec des descripteurs de l'environnement, selon des courbes de réponses statistiques qui décrive la niche réalisée des espèces. Ces modèles fournissent des projections spatiales indiquant les lieux les plus favorables pour les espèces considérées. Le principal objectif de cette thèse est de fournir des projections plus réalistes de la distribution des espèces et des communautés en montagne pour le climat présent et futur en considérant non-seulement des variables abiotiques mais aussi biotiques. Les régions de montagne et l'écosystème alpin sont très sensibles aux changements globaux et en même temps assurent de nombreux services écosystémiques. Cette thèse est séparée en trois parties : (i) fournir une meilleure compréhension du rôle des interactions biotiques dans la distribution des espèces et l'assemblage des communautés en montagne (ouest des Alpes Suisses), (ii) permettre le développement d'une nouvelle approche pour modéliser la distribution spatiale de la biodiversité, (iii) fournir des projections plus réalistes de la distribution future des espèces ainsi que de la composition des communautés. En me focalisant sur les papillons, bourdons et plantes vasculaires, j'ai détecté des interactions biotiques importantes qui lient les espèces entre elles. J'ai également identifié la signature du filtre de l'environnement sur les communautés en haute altitude confirmant l'utilité des SDMs pour reproduire ce type de processus. A partir de ces études, j'ai contribué à l'amélioration méthodologique des SDMs dans le but de prédire les communautés en incluant les interactions biotiques et également les processus non-déterministes par une approche probabiliste. Cette approche permet de prédire non-seulement la distribution d'espèces individuelles, mais également celle de communautés dans leur entier en empilant les projections (S-SDMs). Finalement, j'ai utilisé cet outil pour prédire la distribution d'espèces et de communautés dans le passé et le futur. En particulier, j'ai modélisé la migration post-glaciaire de Trollius europaeus qui est à l'origine de la structure génétique intra-spécifique chez cette espèce et évalué les risques de perte face au changement climatique. Finalement, j'ai simulé la distribution des communautés de bourdons pour le 21e siècle afin d'évaluer les changements probables dans ce groupe important de pollinisateurs. La diversité fonctionnelle des bourdons va être altérée par la perte d'espèces spécialistes de haute altitude et ceci va influencer la pollinisation des plantes en haute altitude. - Ecosystems provide a multitude of resources and ecological services, which are useful to human. Biodiversity is an essential component of those ecosystems and guarantee many services. To assure the permanence of ecosystem services for future generation, measure should be applied to conserve biodiversity. For this purpose, the acquisition of detailed information on how biodiversity implicated in ecosystem function is distributed in space is essential. Species distribution models (SDMs) are empirical models relating field observations to environmental predictors based on statistically-derived response surfaces that fit the realized niche. These models result in spatial predictions indicating locations of the most suitable environment for the species and may potentially be applied to predict composition of communities and their functional properties. The main objective of this thesis was to provide more accurate projections of species and communities distribution under current and future climate in mountains by considering not solely abiotic but also biotic drivers of species distribution. Mountain areas and alpine ecosystems are considered as particularly sensitive to global changes and are also sources of essential ecosystem services. This thesis had three main goals: (i) a better ecological understanding of biotic interactions and how they shape the distribution of species and communities, (ii) the development of a novel approach to the spatial modeling of biodiversity, that can account for biotic interactions, and (iii) ecologically more realistic projections of future species distributions, of future composition and structure of communities. Focusing on butterfly and bumblebees in interaction with the vegetation, I detected important biotic interactions for species distribution and community composition of both plant and insects along environmental gradients. I identified the signature of environmental filtering processes at high elevation confirming the suitability of SDMs for reproducing patterns of filtering. Using those case-studies, I improved SDMs by incorporating biotic interaction and accounting for non-deterministic processes and uncertainty using a probabilistic based approach. I used improved modeling to forecast the distribution of species through the past and future climate changes. SDMs hindcasting allowed a better understanding of the spatial range dynamic of Trollius europaeus in Europe at the origin of the species intra-specific genetic diversity and identified the risk of loss of this genetic diversity caused by climate change. By simulating the future distribution of all bumblebee species in the western Swiss Alps under nine climate change scenarios for the 21st century, I found that the functional diversity of this pollinator guild will be largely affected by climate change through the loss of high elevation specialists. In turn, this will have important consequences on alpine plant pollination.

Ampliació i millora d'un sistema avançat de compartició de vehicle

Actualment el cotxe és un dels mitjans de transport més utilitzats,comportant problemes de trànsit i aparcament, contaminació acústica i ambiental i una important despesa econòmica. Ja fa uns anys, i davant d'aquesta nova realitat, va sorgir la idea del carpooling, un sistema de transport privat compartit protagonitzat per particulars i que pot esdevenir una molt bona alternativa de mobilitat sostenible. Tot i això, els projectes de carpooling són actualment poc dinàmics I majoritàriament acotats a portals web. Molt pocs disposen de portals adaptats adispositius mòbils i, encara menys, disposen d’aplicacions natives. Amb tot, avui en dia elsaparells mòbils, ja siguin smartphones o PDAs, obren un ventall de possibilitats encara noexplotat en aquest camp.Per altra banda, compartir un viatge amb algú desconegut i de qui no se’n tenenreferències és quelcom que ens fa sentir insegurs, però això es pot resoldre gràciesal trust i reputation, un sistema basat en les valoracions dels usuaris que ja han viscutl’experiència, i que per tant, ens permet conèixer la reputació i confiança de que disposaun usuari dins el sistema. A tots aquests punts, cal afegir-hi la importància que té avui endia rebre en tot moment una informació clara i actualitzada.Aquest projecte vol exprimir aquestes oportunitats donant una plataforma d’accésusable per aquesta mena de dispositius, per tal de que no hi hagi cap barrera per estarconnectat al sistema en qualsevol lloc i moment. A més a més, aquests terminals donen lapossibilitat de saber la seva localització en temps real, cosa que pot resultar molt útil per agent que comparteix viatges i que s’està movent d’un lloc a un altre.Així doncs, partint de totes aquestes possibilitats de millora, es van idear una sèried’estratègies per a un projecte de carpooling ja existent anomenat e-hitchhiking, dotant aaquest sistema d’una major comunicació, protecció i seguretat per a que l’experiència del’usuari sigui molt més gratificant, on a més, hi ha la possibilitat de rebre informaciótotalment veraç i actualitzada en certs dispositius mòbils.Per tant la motivació principal per dur a terme aquest projecte és, a part de lesesmentades anteriorment, la de dotar un sistema de compartició de vehicle d’un majordinamisme, més realisme, més fiabilitat i fer-lo més sociable. El sistema s’implanta oficialment al setembre del 2011 amb la creació de lacomunitat UdG

Dynamic modelling of an underwater vehicle

Nessie is an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) created by a team of students in the Heriot Watt University to compete in the Student Autonomous Underwater Competition, Europe (SAUC-E) in August 2006. The main objective of the project is to find the dynamic equation of the robot, dynamic model. With it, the behaviour of the robot will be easier to understand and movement tests will be available by computer without the need of the robot, what is a way to save time, batteries, money and the robot from water inside itself. The object of the second part in this project is setting a control system for Nessie by using the model

Posicionament de vehicles en mapes mitjançant GPS

El projecte consisteix en el desenvolupament d'un algorisme que millori el posicionament final d'un sistema que adquireix les dades d'una antena de GPS estàndard. Aquest sistema en certs moments té pèrdua total de senyal GPS o rep senyal amb pertorbacions, derivant en un mal posicionament. Nosaltres hem proposat una solució que utilitza les coordenades del GPS, el filtre Kalman per resoldre els problemes de pertorbacions de senyal, bases de dades digitals geogràfiques per garantir la circulació del vehicle per sobre la carretera, i finalment combina la informació temporal de posicions anteriors i la de les bases de dades per posicionar el vehicle quan hi ha pèrdua total de senyal. Els experiments realitzats ens indiquen que s'obté una millora del posicionement.

Histoires de vie, témoignages, autobiographies de terrain : formes d'énonciation et de textualisation

Dans ce volume collectif, des anthropologues, des historiens et des linguistes s'interrogent, à partir de leur point de vue respectif, sur la relation entre "observateur" et "observé" quand celle-ci est basée sur la collecte, la mise en forme et l'analyse d'un type particulier de documents : les histoires de vie, les biographies de terrain, et plus généralement toutes formes de témoignages, de comptes rendus et de récits se référant aux unes ou aux autres. Il s'agit de faire émerger des points de vue complémentaires sur les formes d'objectivation de l'observation et de représentation du processus de récolte des données, sur les figurations de la voix du narrateur et du sujet-agent, sur le métalangage et son efficacité dans la construction de la connaissance et du type de savoir qui en dérive

Prototip culata del vehicle de baix consum (equip EPS-UdG Shell Eco)

Aquest projecte s’ha portat a terme per tal de millorar en diferentsaspectes el motor Honda Gx35 , del vehicle de baix consum de la Universitat deGirona (Udg). Aquest és un motor de combustió interna de gasolina (cicle Otto).L’objectiu és el disseny d’una culata per poder minimitzar el consum de gasolina, la qual s’ha de poder acoblar amb el motor Honda Gx35. Aquest motor,prèviament s’haurà de modificar per poder-hi instal•lari la nova culata

Industrialització i fabricació d'una carrosseria d'un vehicle de baix consum

El projecte es desenvolupa amb la intenció de millorar ell cotxe queparticipa, en nom de la Universitat de Girona, a la shell eco-marathon en lacategoria de prototips i amb gasolina com a combustible.El motiu principal que ha donat peu a aquest projecte és la realització d’unestudi aerodinàmic que ha desembocat en un disseny totalment nou de lageometria de la carrosseria. Aquest estudi i el disseny aerodinàmic de lacarrosseria obtingut es pot consultar al projecte titulat “Disseny i estudi del’aerodinàmica del vehicle àliga” de l’autor Albert Marron

Schizotypy : do not worry, it is not all worrisome

A long-standing tradition in personality research in psychology, and nowadays increasingly in psychiatry, is that psychotic and psychotic-like thoughts are considered common experiences in the general population. Given their widespread occurrence, such experiences cannot merely reflect pathological functioning. Moreover, reflecting the multi-dimensionality of schizotypy, some dimensions might be informative for healthy functioning while others less so. Here, we explored these possibilities by reviewing research that links schizotypy to favourable functioning such as subjective wellbeing, cognitive functioning (major focus on creativity) and personality correlates. This research highlights the existence of healthy people with psychotic-like traits who mainly experience positive schizotypy (but also affective features mapping onto bipolar disorder). These individuals seem to benefit from a healthy way to organise their thoughts and experiences, i.e. they employ an adaptive cognitive framework to explain and integrate their unusual experiences. We conclude that, instead of focussing only on the pathological, future studies should explore the behavioural, genetic, imaging and psychopharmacological correlates that define the healthy expression of psychotic-like traits. Such studies would inform on protective or compensatory mechanisms of psychosis-risk and could usefully inform us on the evolutionary advantages of the psychosis dimension.

Full-Size Off-Highway Vehicle Registration Program, December 30, 2003

Report submitted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and the Iowa Department of Transportation to the General Assembly as required by Senate File 458, section 152, passed by the 2003 General Assembly and signed May 30, 2003.