Synthesis of 1D-glyconanomaterials by a hybrid noncovalent-covalent functionalization of single wall carbon nanotubes: a study of their selective interactions with lectins and with live cells.

To take full advantage of the remarkable applications of carbon nanotubes in different fields, there is a need to develop effective methods to improve their water dispersion and biocompatibility while maintaining their physical properties. In this sense, current approaches suffer from serious drawbacks such as loss of electronic structure together with low surface coverage in the case of covalent functionalizations, or instability of the dynamic hybrids obtained by non-covalent functionalizations. In the present work, we examined the molecular basis of an original strategy that combines the advantages of both functionalizations without their main drawbacks. The hierarchical self-assembly of diacetylenic-based neoglycolipids into highly organized and compacted rings around the nanotubes, followed by photopolymerization leads to the formation of nanotubes covered with glyconanorings with a shish kebab-type topology exposing the carbohydrate ligands to the water phase in a multivalent fashion. The glyconanotubes obtained are fully functional, and able to establish specific interactions with their cognate receptors. In fact, by taking advantage of this selective binding, an easy method to sense lectins as a working model of toxin detection was developed based on a simple analysis of TEM images. Remarkably, different experimental settings to assess cell membrane integrity, cell growth kinetics and cell cycle demonstrated the cellular biocompatibility of the sugar-coated carbon nanotubes compared to pristine single-walled carbon nanotubes.

[Analysis of the use of nursing personnel in a general intensive care unit. Situation in other european ICUs]. / Análisis del uso de los recursos humanos enfermeros en una unidad de cuidados intensivos polivalente. Situación con el resto de UCIs europeas.

Nursing workloads form the basis for the appropriate provision of nursing personnel. In this study we used the nine equivalents of nursing manpower use score (NEMS) to determine and evaluate the use of nursing staff in our unit. In the first phase we determined the actual workload in the various shifts and diagnostic areas. Statistically significant differences were found among diagnostic areas but not among shifts. Then, to compare our situation with that of other European intensive care units (ICUs), dynamic parameters of the management and efficiency of the use of nursing staff were analyzed following the multicentric EURICUS-I study, which was performed over 4 months in 100 ICUs in 12 European countries. For the comparison, indexes such as the work utilization ratio (WUR), the level of care planned (LOC p) and the level of care operative (LOC op) were used. The results obtained reveal that although our workload is equivalent to the European average, efficiency is greater. Thus, the situation in our unit differs from the downward trend of the data obtained in other European countries.

Análisis del uso de los recursos humanos enfermeros en una unidad de cuidados intensivos polivalente. situación con el resto de ucis europeas / Analysis of the use of nursing personnel in a general intensive care unit. Situation in other european ICUs

Las cargas de trabajo enfermeras deberían ser la base para la adecuación correcta de los recursos humanos enfermeros. En el presente estudio utilizamos la escala NEMS (nine equivalents of nursing manpower use score), con el objeto de conocer y valorar el uso de los recursos enfermeros en nuestra unidad. En una primera fase conocimos las cargas reales de trabajo en los distintos turnos y zonas diagnósticas, observando la existencia de diferencias estadísticas entre zonas diagnósticas, pero no entre los distintos turnos de trabajo. Posteriormente se analizaron parámetros dinámicos de gestión y eficiencia de uso de recursos humanos siguiendo el estudio multicéntrico EURICUS-I, estudio realizado durante 4 meses en un total de 100 UCIs de 12 países europeos, con el objeto de comparar nuestra situación con el resto de UCIs europeas. Para ello utilizamos índices como el WUR (work utilization ratio), LOC p (level of care planned) y LOC op (level of care operative). De los resultados obtenidos se desprende que a pesar de tener las mismas cargas de trabajo que la media europea, soportamos niveles de eficiencia superiores, es decir, el escenario en el que nos encontramos en nuestra unidad difiere a la baja de los datos obtenidos en Europa (AU)