RESUMEN

The COVID-19 pandemic and societal response implemented may interact with the ongoing HIV epidemic in multiple ways. There are approximately 87000 people living with HIV (PLWH) who are at risk of developing COVID-19 in Peru and 67,000 of them are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and at risk of limitations in their access to ART, compromising their adherence and their health during the pandemic. Finally, the potential effect of the pandemic on the mental health of PLWH is not documented. This opinion aims to: describe the clinical implications of the HIV/SARS-CoV-2 coinfection; discuss the challenges to the continuity of care of PLWH in Peru during the COVID-19 crisis; and comment possible implications that the COVID-19 crisis may pose on the mental health of PLWH.

La pandemia por la COVID-19 y las medidas restrictivas de distanciamiento social pueden interactuar con la epidemia de VIH de múltiples formas. Existen aproximadamente 87 000 personas viviendo con VIH (PVV) en el Perú quienes están en riesgo de contraer la COVID-19; 67 000 de ellas que reciben tratamiento antirretroviral (TAR) podrían tener limitaciones en el acceso a sus medicamentos, comprometiendo su adherencia y su salud. Además, el efecto que podría tener la pandemia en la salud mental de PVV en Perú aún no está esclarecido. Este artículo tiene como finalidad describir las implicancias clínicas de la coinfección VIH/SARS-CoV-2; discutir los desafíos en la continuidad de atención de las PVV en el Perú durante la crisis sanitaria por la COVID-19; y comentar las posibles implicancias de las medidas restrictivas sobre la salud mental de las PVV.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

RESUMEN La pandemia por la COVID-19 y las medidas restrictivas de distanciamiento social pueden interactuar con la epidemia de VIH de múltiples formas. Existen aproximadamente 87 000 personas viviendo con VIH (PVV) en el Perú quienes están en riesgo de contraer la COVID-19; 67 000 de ellas que reciben tratamiento antirretroviral (TAR) podrían tener limitaciones en el acceso a sus medicamentos, comprometiendo su adherencia y su salud. Además, el efecto que podría tener la pandemia en la salud mental de PVV en Perú aún no está esclarecido. Este artículo tiene como finalidad describir las implicancias clínicas de la coinfección VIH/SARS-CoV-2; discutir los desafíos en la continuidad de atención de las PVV en el Perú durante la crisis sanitaria por la COVID-19; y comentar las posibles implicancias de las medidas restrictivas sobre la salud mental de las PVV.

ABSTRACT The COVID-19 pandemic and societal response implemented may interact with the ongoing HIV epidemic in multiple ways. There are approximately 87000 people living with HIV (PLWH) who are at risk of developing COVID-19 in Peru and 67,000 of them are on antiretroviral therapy (ART) and at risk of limitations in their access to ART, compromising their adherence and their health during the pandemic. Finally, the potential effect of the pandemic on the mental health of PLWH is not documented. This opinion aims to: describe the clinical implications of the HIV/SARS-CoV-2 coinfection; discuss the challenges to the continuity of care of PLWH in Peru during the COVID-19 crisis; and comment possible implications that the COVID-19 crisis may pose on the mental health of PLWH.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Objetivo: El objetivo del estudio fue describir la frecuencia de sintomatología depresiva en cuidadores de pacientes pediátricos en diálisis peritoneal y hemodiálisis. Material y Métodos: Estudio descriptivo de corte transversal en el cual participaron 33 cuidadores de pacientes pediátricos con enfermedad renal crónica de la unidad de hemodiálisis y diálisis peritoneal del Hospital Cayetano Heredia en Lima (Perú). El nivel de sintomatología depresiva de los cuidadores fue evaluado mediante el Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9). Resultados: Un total de 54,54% de cuidadores presentaron sintomatología depresiva; el 9,09% moderadamente severa, el 18,18% moderada y el 27,27% leve; solo el 3,03% reportó uso de antidepresivos. Todos los cuidadores con depresión moderada y moderadamente severa reportaron algún grado de dificultad para realizar sus labores. Conclusiones: Se evidenció una alta frecuencia de sintomatología depresiva en cuidadores de pacientes pediátricos en diálisis. El reconocimiento de la depresión en los cuidadores principales es importante a fin de conducir intervenciones dirigidas a la preservación de su bienestar emocional.

Objective: To describe the frequency of depressive symptomatology in caregivers of pediatric patients on peritoneal dialysis and hemodialysis. Material and methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study of 33 caregivers of pediatric patients with Chronic Kidney Disease, under treatment in the Hemodialysis and Peritoneal Dialysis Unit of the Cayetano Heredia Hospital in Lima (Peru). The participants completed the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), which assessed their degree of depressive symptomatology. Results: A total of 54.54% of caregivers showed depressive symptomatology; 9.09% moderately severe, 18.18% moderate and 27.27% mild; only 3.03% reported intake of antidepressants. All caregivers with moderate and moderately severe depression reported some degree of difficulty in performing their tasks. Conclusions: A high frequency of depressive symptomatology in caregivers of pediatric patients on dialysis was found. The recognition of depression in primary caregivers is important, in order to carry out interventions aimed at maintaining their emotional well-being.

RESUMEN

In this paper, we propose a simple approach for detecting activated voxels in fMRI data by exploiting the inherent sparsity property of the BOLD signal. The proposed approach addresses the solution of the inverse problem induced by the General Linear Model through an l(0)-regularized Least Absolute Deviation (l(0)-LAD) regression method. Under this framework, the activated voxels are detected by a two-stages process: estimation and basis selection. First, an estimate of the coefficients that minimizes the absolute deviation error is found by means of the weighted median operator. Then, a thresholding operator is applied on the estimated value in order to decide whether or not a stimulus is present in the observed BOLD signal. The threshold parameter turns out to be the regularization parameter that controls the model sparseness. The method was proven on real fMRI data leading to similar activated regions than those activated by the Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM) software.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

En el presente trabajo se investiga la inducción de placas ateromatosas en ratas albinas machos, cepa Wistar (Rattus norvegicus) crónicamente infectadas con Trypanosoma cruzi y alimentadas ad libitum con una dieta rica en grasas de origen vegetal, durante tres meses. La infección crónica evidenciada por pruebas sero-parasitológicas, reveló presenciade anticuerpos IgG anti- T. cruzi y ausencia de parasitemiaspatentes. La dieta rica en grasas produjo en las ratas infectadas (A) y sanas (C) un aumento significativo en el peso (P<0,05), en comparación con las ratas controles (B) y sanas (D) sometidas a la dieta normal. El estudio histopatológicode secciones de la arteria aorta de las ratas del grupo A (infectadas/dieta grasa), mostró abundantes depósitoslipídicos, procesos inflamatorios (vasculitis) y placas ateromatosas en formación. En las secciones de corazón y músculo esquelético se evidenció miocarditis y miositis con características de cronicidad sin parasitismo tisular. Las pruebas inmunohistoquímicas aplicadas a los cortes de arteria,corazón y músculo esquelético de las ratas infectadas A (infectadas/dieta-grasa) y B (infectadas/dieta-normal), mostraron abundantes depósitos antigénicos, lo que indica persistencia de antígenos parasitarios. En conclusión, las ratasinfectadas con T. cruzi alimentadas con la dieta rica en grasas, tienen una mayor propección a desarrollar placas ateromatosas.Los resultados demostraron que una dieta hiperlipídicaes un factor de riesgo para el desarrollo de enfermedadateromatosa en individuos con enfermedad de Chagas

This work is focused on the induction of atheromatous plaques in male albino rats (Rattus norvegicus), Wistar, chronically infected with Trypanosoma cruzi and fed ad libitum with diet rich in fats of vegetal origin, during three months. The chronic infection detected by serological and parasitological assays, revealed the presence of antibodies IgG anti- T. cruzi and the absence of patents parasitemias. The diet rich in fats produced in the group of infected rats (A) and the group of healthy rats (C) a significant increase in the weight (P<0,05), in comparison with the control group of infected rats (B) and the group of healthy rats (D), fed with a normal diet. The histopathological study of sections of the aorta arteryof the rats of the group (A) (infected/diet fat), showed abundants lipid deposits, inflammatory processes (vasculitis) and atheromatous plaques in development. The sections of the heart and skeletal muscle showed pictures of a myocarditis and myositis with features of chronic tissue without parasitism. The immunohistochemestry assays applied to the cuts of artery, heart and skeletal muscle of the infected rats A (diet/fat) and B (normal/diet), showed abundants antigen deposits. In conclusion, the rats chronically infected with T. cruzi and fed with a diet rich in fats, have a main propensity to develop atheromatous plaques. The results showed that a hyperlipidic diet is a risk factor for the development of atheromatous disease in individuals with Chagas`disease

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

Se propone un método de corrección de la línea base (LB) de señales electroforéticas que explota la representación wavelet a baja resolución de la señal original. La LB es modelada en el dominio wavelet como una función polinomial y se usa el algoritmo de optimización LEGEND para determinar los parámetros del modelo polinomial que mejor se ajusta a una subsección de la LB, de forma tal de minimizar una función costo asimétrica robusta. El algoritmo propuesto produce una corrección adecuada de la LB en aquellas zonas del electroferograma donde se aprecian sustancias de baja concentración en las adyacencias de sustancias de concentración elevada, preservando picos asociados con las primeras. Se validó el algoritmo desarrollado en un problema de medición de la cantidad de glutamato presente en 24 registros electroforéticos y se comparó su desempeño con los valores medidos por el especialista donde la línea base es corregida en forma manual y con los valores arrojados por un segundo algoritmo de corrección de LB recientemente propuesto.

A baseline (BL) correction algorithm for capillary electrophoresis (CE) data is developed. The proposed algorithm exploits a low-resolution wavelet representation of the original signal to locally model the BL as a polinomial function and applies the LEGEND optimization algorithm to obtain the model parameters, such that a robust non-symmetric cost function is minimized. The proposed algorithm outputs a suitable BL correction on those subsections of the electropherogram where peaks related to low concentration substances are near those of high concentration substances. The performance of the proposed algorithm was tested by measuring the glutamate mass on 24 electropherograms after the BL had been suppressed using the proposed algorithm. The resulting values are compared to those yielded by a conventional measuring method performed by a CE specialist and by a second CE baseline correction method recently introduced.

É proposto um método de correção da linha base (LB) de sinais eletroforéticos que explora a representação wavelet a baixa resolução do sinal original. A LB é modelada no dominio wavelet como uma função polinomial e se usa o algoritmo de otimização LEGEND para determinar os parâmetros do modelo polinomial que melhor se ajusta a uma subseção da LB, de forma tal de minimizar uma função custo assimétrica robusta. O algoritmo proposto produz uma correção adequada da LB naquelas áreas do eletroferograma onde se apreciam substâncias de baixa concentração nas adjacências de substâncias de concentração elevada, preservando picos associados com as primeiras. Validou-se o algoritmo desenvolvido em um problema de medição da quantidade de glutamato presente em 24 registros eletroforéticos e foi comparado seu desempenho com os valores medidos pelo especialista onde a linha base é corrigida em forma manual e com os valores emitidos por um segundo algoritmo de correção de LB recentemente proposto.

RESUMEN

A novel approach for CE data analysis based on pattern recognition techniques in the wavelet domain is presented. Low-resolution, denoised electropherograms are obtained by applying several preprocessing algorithms including denoising, baseline correction, and detection of the region of interest in the wavelet domain. The resultant signals are mapped into character sequences using first derivative information and multilevel peak height quantization. Next, a local alignment algorithm is applied on the coded sequences for peak pattern recognition. We also propose 2-D and 3-D representations of the found patterns for fast visual evaluation of the variability of chemical substances concentration in the analyzed samples. The proposed approach is tested on the analysis of intracerebral microdialysate data obtained by CE and LIF detection, achieving a correct detection rate of about 85% with a processing time of less than 0.3 s per 25,000-point electropherogram. Using a local alignment algorithm on low-resolution denoised electropherograms might have a great impact on high-throughput CE since the proposed methodology will substitute automatic fast pattern recognition analysis for slow, human based time-consuming visual pattern recognition methods.

Asunto(s)

RESUMEN

This paper addresses the problem of improving immunization of programmable logic controllers (PLC's) to electromagnetic interference with impulsive characteristics. A filtering structure, based on weighted median filters, that does not require additional hardware and can be implemented in legacy PLC's is proposed. The filtering operation is implemented in the binary domain and removes the impulsive noise presented in the discrete input adding thus robustness to PLC's. By modifying the sampling clock structure, two variants of the filter are obtained. Both structures exploit the cyclic nature of the PLC to form an N-sample observation window of the discrete input, hence a status change on it is determined by the filter output taking into account all the N samples avoiding thus that a single impulse affects the PLC functionality. A comparative study, based on a statistical analysis, of the different filters' performances is presented.

RESUMEN

A new approach to multichannel image compression is introduced where the intra- and cross-band correlations are jointly exploited in a surprisingly simple yet very effective manner. The key component of the algorithm is a bijection mapping of the original multichannel image into a virtual two-dimensional (2-D) scalar image. By optimally mapping the multichannel image set into a 2-D array and by subsequently applying a scalar image coding algorithm, the spatial correlation and the spectral correlation of the multichannel data set are jointly exploited. Based on the statistical characteristics of the multichannel data, the bijection mapping can be optimized to minimize the distortion introduced by the compression algorithm. The optimization reduces to the maximization of a function of the second-order statistics of the multichannel data. At high compression rates, the new algorithm outperforms traditional compression algorithms whenever the cross-band correlation is high and it yields comparable performance at low compression rates.