Metalloproteinases 1 and 3 as Potential Biomarkers in Breast Cancer Development

Breast cancer continues to be one of the main causes of morbidity and mortality globally and was the leading cause of cancer death in women in Spain in 2020. Early diagnosis is one of the most effective methods to lower the incidence and mortality rates of breast cancer. The human metalloproteinases (MMP) mainly function as proteolytic enzymes degrading the extracellular matrix and plays important roles in most steps of breast tumorigenesis. This retrospective cohort study shows the immunohistochemical expression levels of MMP-1, MMP-2, MMP-3, and MMP-9 in 154 women with breast cancer and 42 women without tumor disease. The samples of breast tissue are assessed using several tissue matrices (TMA). The percentages of staining (≤50%–>50%) and intensity levels of staining (weak, moderate, or intense) are considered. The immunohistochemical expression of the MMP-1-intensity (p = 0.043) and MMP-3 percentage (p = 0.018) and intensity, (p = 0.025) present statistically significant associations with the variable group (control–case); therefore, expression in the tumor tissue samples of these MMPs may be related to the development of breast cancer. The relationships between these MMPs and some clinicopathological factors in breast cancer are also evaluated but no correlation is found. These results suggest the use of MMP-1 and MMP-3 as potential biomarkers of breast cancer diagnosis.     

Hair root versus red cell individual phenotype in Sardinian heterozygotes for G6PD deficiency (Mediterranean type)

G6PD activity was assayed in 20 Sardinian heterozygotes for G6PD deficiency and related to that of LDH and MDH. One of these heterozygotes showed a deficient phenotype in all her follicles, while the remaining 19 had different proportions of deficient, intermediate, and normal follicles. This is in accordance with a previous estimate. Because of the broad fiducial limits at the 5% level and because of some developmental considerations, this value cannot be interpreted as indicative of the number of primordial cells for scalp epidermis at the time of X-chromosome inactivation, as previously stated. The assay of single hair follicles is, however, a very valuable tool for establishing the role of cell selection in the same or in a different tissue, like peripheral blood.     

A Fast Firing Binaural System for Ultrasonic Pattern Recognition

A binaural sonar configuration with capability to detect and identify walls, edges and corners on real-time is presented in this work. A new multi-echo ultra-fast firing method increases the sonar acquisition rate, and provides crossed measurements without interference. A feature map is built on-line using Bayesian updating and classification rules. Three classifiers are implemented and analyzed: minimum risk (MR), maximum a posteriori (MAP), and minimum distance (MD). Experimental results of ultrasonic reflector recognition, using data collected in a specular indoor environment are presented in the paper.     

Renewable energy application progress in Mexico

This paper shows a general view of the renewable energy systems instaled in Mexico, since the early 70's up to the present date. Mention is made of the location, within the Mexican territory, of these systems, their power and the institutions that have participated in this program which are academic, federal government agencies, local government agencies as well as private companies. The installed systems are mainly: wind generators, flat and concentrator collectors, geothermal plants, biomass, solar ponds, photovoltaic systems and small hydrologic plants.     

Proteic-anabolic capacity in rats — influence of the quality and quantity of dietary protein

The effect of quality (casein + 5% DL-methionine, normal or heated at 180 °C for 20 min) and quantity (4%, 6%. 10%, 15% and 20%) of dietary protein on food intake, weight increase and nitrogen retention, has been studied in both sexes weaning Nestle rats. Our results show that food intake, when expressed as g dry matter/100 g body weight and day, is not dependent on the quality and quantity of dietary protein. Weight increase goes up at a 10% dietary protein level. At higher protein levels (15% and 20%) values are only maintained. Protein quality do not cause any difference. Nitrogen retention goes up on increasing dietary protein level, with a maximum at 10% casein-methionine and 15% heated protein, being retention heated casein-methionine significantly lower. At a higher protein level, the maximal anabolic capacity for protein is maintained. Maximum Protein Productive Value (PPV) is obtained from diets containing 10% protein level (normal or heated). There is a significant decrease at higher protein levels (15% and 20%). The PPV of heated casein-methionine is lower than PPV of normal one at 6%, 10%. 15% and 20% protein levels. The results state that in our assays, in spite of the good quality of heated casein-methionine, its metabolic efficiency is below non heated protein values even when protein contribution is increased. We can assume that protein quantity is not a balancing factor for protein quality.     

Bacterial colonization of human milk

Because human milk is being used more and more for feeding neonates, many hospitals are struggling with the issue of culturing. The literature indicates that human milk is hardly ever sterile. Since there has been much debate concerning protocols and frequency of culturing milk specimens, we evaluated our facility's protocol, the aim of which was to assure clean collection and transportation of the mothers' milk. We studied two large sectors of patients; private and nonprivate (service). Both sectors had a similar contamination rate with the same type of organisms. Private pediatricians generally ordered more cultures per patient than did the service (nonprivate) pediatrician. We challenge the need for all these cultures, which increase the patients' cost.     

Renal damage in rheumatoid arthritis

Finger skin temperature change during contact with a cold aluminium surface was studied in 20 subjects (10 men and 10 women). Contact pressure (0.1 N, 5.9 N and 9.8 N), contact material mass (large one, mass 3559 g, small one, mass 108 g), surface temperatures (-7 degrees C, 0 degree C, +7 degrees C) and whole body thermal balance were controlled as independent factors. The contact experiments were performed in a small chamber and only the first section of the index finger of the left hand was in contact with the aluminium surface. The results indicated that all the factors studied had significant effects on the contact skin temperature change with time. The study confirmed that a modified Newtonian model with two components can accurately describe the contact skin temperature change with time. The study resulted in three predictive models for critical skin temperature when in contact with cold aluminium. The results indicated that metal surfaces in contact with bare hands should not be below 4 degrees C surface temperature. Lower temperatures require insulating material or the wearing of protective gloves.     

LIDAR and vision‐based pedestrian detection system

A perception system for pedestrian detection in urban scenarios using information from a LIDAR and a single camera is presented. Two sensor fusion architectures are described, a centralized and a decentralized one. In the former, the fusion process occurs at the feature level, i.e., features from LIDAR and vision spaces are combined in a single vector for posterior classification using a single classifier. In the latter, two classifiers are employed, one per sensor‐feature space, which were offline selected based on information theory and fused by a trainable fusion method applied over the likelihoods provided by the component classifiers. The proposed schemes for sensor combination, and more specifically the trainable fusion method, lead to enhanced detection performance and, in addition, maintenance of false‐alarms under tolerable values in comparison with single‐based classifiers. Experimental results highlight the performance and effectiveness of the proposed pedestrian detection system and the related sensor data combination strategies. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A PC-based system for evaluating the efficacy of the NESS Handmaster orthosis

Functional electrical stimulation (FES) is a viable alternative to conventional treatments aimed at restoring function and mobility following central nervous system (CNS) damage. Muscle contractions are converted into functional activity, thus, its wide range of clinical applications. Research efforts are currently focused on the development of programmable stimulators that enable the patient to perform tasks related to activities of daily living. Herein, we present a PC-based surface stimulator that enables the user to vary the stimulus waveform and the activation sequence of different muscle groups within a wide range of options. This instrumentation is not only a development platform for other, more sophisticated neuroprostheses, but an essential tool for evaluating the rehabilitative efficacy of the NESS Handmaster (NESS Ltd., Israel). Our PC-based stimulator reproduces Handmaster motor tasks by selectively activating the five muscle groups that control the hand, palmar, and lateral grasps. The stimulator is entirely controlled by the plegic patient with the push of a button. The ancillary software permits acquisition of up to sixteen analog channels, so that feedback signals for closed-loop control of the grasp function can be measured.