Can systems immunology lead tuberculosis eradication?

25 years after the declaration of a Global Emergency by the World Health Organization, tuberculosis (TB) remains a major enemy to the humankind. During this period, much progress has been done to better understand its natural history, revealing its huge complexity, which highlighted the need for implementing systems immunology approaches. Recent advances focused in understanding the role of macrophage subtypes and dendritic cells role, the importance of cytokine balance, and the antigenic repertoire. Identification of early irruption of polymorphonuclear neutrophils and extracellular growth of the bacilli seem to be the most disruptive factors to understand the evolution towards active TB. Their inclusion in future models will provide new tools for the better understanding of the tuberculosis.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Modeling tuberculosis transmission in urban cities through agent-based simulation: the case of Barcelona

Tuberculosis remains one of the world’s deadliest infectious diseases. About one-third of the world’s population is infected with tuberculosis bacteria. Understanding the dynamics of transmission at different spatial scales is critical to progress in its control. We present an agent-based model for tuberculosis epidemics in Barcelona, which has an observatory on this disease. Our model considers high heterogeneity within the population, including risk factors for developing an active disease, and it tracks the individual behavior once diagnosed. We incorporated the immunodeficiency and smoking/alcoholism, as well as the individual’s origin (foreigner or not) for its contagion and infection as risks factors. We implemented the model in Netlogo, a useful tool for interaction with physicians. However, the platform has some computational limitations, and we propose a solution to overcome them.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Coxsackie B3 Virus-induced Acute Hemorrhagic Edema of Infancy

Acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy (AHEI) is a cutaneous leukocytoclastic small vessel vasculitis of unknown incidence. It affects mostly infants aged 4 to 24 months. The distinctive features of AHEI include a generally healthy-appearing child with low-grade or absent fever and rarely painful targetoid purpuric edematous lesions. The disease usually resolves spontaneously within 3 weeks without late sequelae. The main differential diagnosis of AHEI is Henoch-Schönlein purpura (HSP). Initially, purpura fulminans should also be ruled out. We report the case of a 5-year-old girl with low fever and rapidly progressive skin lesions who had been admitted to the pediatric clinic. The child presented with palpable annular targetoid and purpuric plaques of different size predominantly affecting the face and extremities. In addition, there was a painful, hemorrhagic edema on the dorsum of her hands and feet. Based on the course of the disease and the typical clinical presentation, i.e., extensive characteristic skin lesions in a young child in a good general health condition, a diagnosis of AHEI was established. A virus serology test showed increased titers of enterovirus and coxsackievirus. Isolation of virus from feces confirmed an infection with coxsackie B3 virus. To our knowledge, this is the first report linking coxsackie B3 virus infection to AHE

Key Enabling Technologies for 5G: Millimeter-Wave and Massive MIMO

[EN] 5G wireless networks are expected to operate with orders of magnitude higher performance than the current 4G deployments. The demand for 5000 times higher data rates leads to the necessity of finding new techniques to increase spectral efficiency and of exploring new frequency bands above 6 GHz. It has been proved that from UHF up to C band, a significant increase in system spectral efficiency can be reached through various techniques, such as Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP), Massive Multiple-Input-Multiple-Output (MIMO), and interference management and cancellation; still, the resulting performance will not cope with the full expectations of IMT-2020 and 5G-PPP requirements for 5G networks, mainly in terms of offering 10 Gbps peak data rates with connection densities of 100 k¿1 M devices/km2. To overcome this limitation, the future architecture of such 5G networks is being defined to be deployed on small cells and to use higher frequency bands, such as super high frequency (SHF, 3¿30 GHz) or extremely high frequency (EHF, 30¿300 GHz), also referred as to centimeter and millimeter wave bands, respectively.Cardona Marcet, N.; Correia, LM.; Calabuig Soler, D. (2017). Key Enabling Technologies for 5G: Millimeter-Wave and Massive MIMO. International Journal of Wireless Information Networks. 24(3):201-203. doi:10.1007/s10776-017-0366-zS20120324

The origin and maintenance of tuberculosis is explained by the induction of smear-negative disease in the paleolithic

Is it possible that the origin of Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection was around 70,000 years before the common era? At that time Homo sapiens was just another primate species with discrete growth and a very low-density geographic occupation. Therefore, it is difficult to understand the origin of a highly virulent obligate human pathogen. We have designed a new SEIR model (TBSpectr) that allows the differentiation of smear-positive and -negative tuberculosis. The model reconciles currently accepted growth rates for the Middle Paleolithic (0.003%/year) and Neolithic (0.1%/year). The obtained data link the origin of Mtb infection in the Middle Paleolithic to the induction of smear-negative TB, and reveal that its persistence required interrelations among hunter–gatherer groups, while the risk of human extinction was negligible. It also highlights the number of people infected per case and the fast progression to disease for Mtb infection maintenance, as well as the link between poor health in the Neolithic with the increased incidence of more severe forms of TB (smear-positive). In conclusion, our data support the origin of TB as a well-tolerated, highly persistent disease, even in low-density populations, showing the difficulty of its eradication and highlighting the necessity for providing better health conditions to humans to reduce its severity.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::3 - Salut i BenestarPostprint (published version

Análisis De Sensibilidad Del Intercambiador De Calor De Tubo Y Coraza Del Laboratorio De Plantas Térmicas De La Universidad Libre

El siguiente documento se presentará los resultados encontrados en un análisis de sensibilidad de las variables velocidad, presión y temperatura de un intercambiador de tubo y coraza, respecto al cambio porcentual de los flujos másicos de los fluidos involucrados realizando un análisis experimental y un análisis CFD para parametrizar el equipo de acuerdo con las variables de salida necesarias.This document presents the results found in a sensitivity analysis of the variables as speed, pressure and temperature of a shell and tube exchanger, regarding the percentage change of the mass flows of the involved fluids, performing an experimental analysis and a CFD analysis to parameterize the equipment according to the necessary output variables

Transjugular Kidney Biopsy as a Safe Method to Increase the Etiological Diagnosis in Kidney Disease

Biopsia renal transyugular; Diagnóstico etiológico; Enfermedad renalBiòpsia renal transjugular; Diagnòstic etiològic; Malaltia renalTransjugular Kidney Biopsy; Etiological Diagnosis; Kidney Diseas

Configurable node density generation with application to hotspot modelling

Mobility models are very relevant mainly when studying the performance of wireless systems by means of computer simulations. The main problem arises when deciding the best mobility model for a particular application. In some cases, it is very important to emulate hotspots or, in general, zones with different user (or node) densities. Current models do not allow complete control over hotspots, or in other words, they do not allow any general node density to be defined in the simulation area. Usually, when hotspots are modelled, closed zones are created with different numbers of users in each area, thus ensuring a fixed node density in each area. However, this approach results in an unfair comparison among users since they cannot move across zones. This paper proposes a new mechanism to solve these drawbacks. Using this mechanism, any general node density can be emulated allowing nodes to move around the entire simulation area. Any mobility model can be applied together with this density control mechanism, provided that the mobility model ensures a uniform node distribution. © 2010 Elsevier Ltd.This work has been funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation under project TEC2008-06817-C02-01/TEC.Calabuig Soler, D.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2011). Configurable node density generation with application to hotspot modelling. Mathematical and Computer Modelling. 53(11-12):2229-2237. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mcm.2010.08.028S222922375311-1

Fairness-Driven Fast Resource Allocation for Interference-Free Heterogeneous Networks

Resource allocation in heterogeneous wireless networks is a complex problem. This letter addresses this problem maximizing the sum of logarithms of received rates. From this function, and using the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker (KKT) conditions, this paper proposes an iterative algorithm for allocating resources, which is much faster than conventional techniques. This fast response can be used to optimize larger regions, getting closer to the performance of global and centralized algorithms. © 2012 IEEE.This work was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship of the European Commission under the project COMIC.Calabuig Soler, D.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Cardona Marcet, N. (2012). Fairness-Driven Fast Resource Allocation for Interference-Free Heterogeneous Networks. IEEE Communications Letters. 16(7):1092-1095. doi:10.1109/LCOMM.2012.051512.120720S1092109516