Incidence of major cardiovascular events at 1, 2, and 5 years and mortality in incident patients on peritoneal dialysis regarding their nutritional status by bioimpedanciometry: A multicenter study in Colombia.

BACKGROUND: The nutritional status of incident patients on peritoneal dialysis (PD) has been associated with survival outcomes. Bioimpedanciometry (BCM) enables to establish a nutritional diagnosis, the volume status, and correlates these findings with survival. METHODS: This study used a retrospective multicenter historical cohort. RESULTS: In this study, which included 420 incident patients on peritoneal dialysis with a 5-year follow-up, a cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) of 28.8% was found, being higher in the diabetic population at 36.8%. In regard to the nutritional status in this population, it was found that approximately 44% had altered nutritional status; 34% were found to be in sarcopenia; 6.7% sarcopenic obesity; and 2.8% in obesity (p < 0.001). In the survival analysis, a lower probability of survival was found in patients with overhydration (OH) greater than 3 L (p < 0.001) and in patients with altered nutritional status due to sarcopenia, sarcopenic obesity, and obesity (p 0.016). According to survival in the subgroup of the diabetic population, a lower probability of survival was found in this group of patients (p: 0.011). The overall mortality of the study population was 18%, being higher in the first 2 years, with the most important causes of mortality being cardiovascular. Of the deceased population, 51% were diabetic patients (p: 0.012). CONCLUSION: In incident patients on peritoneal dialysis, sarcopenic obesity, sarcopenia, overhydration status determined by BCM, and having a diagnosis of diabetes are related to a lower probability of survival; MACE outcomes are more frequent in the diabetic population.

Factores de riesgo para discapacidad en pacientes con accidente cerebrovascular en el noreste de México: estudio retrospectivo transversal / Risk factors for disability in patients with stroke in northeastern Mexico: A retrospective cross-sectional study

Objetivo: Determinar los factores de riesgo asociados a discapacidad en pacientes que presentaron accidente cerebrovascular (ACV) en el noreste de México. Diseño: Estudio observacional, retrospectivo y transversal. Sitio: Estudio llevado a cabo en la Unidad de Medicina Familiar (UMF) Núm. 33 del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS) en Cd. Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México. Participantes: Se contó con 344 participantes, 198 varones y 146 mujeres, mayores de 18 años derechohabientes del IMSS, adscritos a la UMF Núm. 33 con diagnóstico de ACV entre los años 2018-2021. Intervenciones: Se aplicó a los participantes el índice de Barthel (IB) que evalúa el grado de dependencia para realizar actividades básicas de la vida diaria (AVD) y recolección de variables sociodemográficas, biológicas y antropométricas de la historia clínica digital. Medidas principales: Se realizó un análisis estadístico univariado, correlacional y de regresión logística ordinal entre variables independientes y dependientes. Se obtuvieron medidas de frecuencia, porcentajes y riesgos asociados. Resultados: Los factores de riesgo asociados a discapacidad fueron la edad con odds ratio (OR) de 1,03 (intervalo de confianza [IC] 1,01-1,05), sobrepeso con OR 1,81 (IC 1,03-3,1), obesidad grado I OR 2,74 (IC 1,46-5,1), obesidad grado II OR 4,38 (1,44-13), obesidad grado III OR 9,99 (IC 2,12-47); tipo de ACV: isquémico OR 4,60 (IC 2,6-8) o trombótico OR 4,95 (1,57-15). El número de comorbilidades se asocia a discapacidad cuando se tiene una comorbilidad OR 2,80 (1,22-6,4), dos comorbilidades OR 3,43 (IC 1,37-8,5), tres comorbilidades OR 2,71 (IC 1,01-7,3), y con cinco comorbilidades OR 3,17 (IC 1,01-9,9). Conclusiones: Los factores de riesgo para discapacidad son la edad, el sobrepeso, la obesidad y el tipo de ACV isquémico y trombótico. Ser cuidado por un familiar y/o cónyuge reduce la probabilidad de presentar discapacidad.(AU)

Objective: To determine the risk factors associated with disability in patients who had a stroke in northeastern Mexico. Design: This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study. Site: Conducted at the Family Medicine Unit No. 33 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Participants: One hundred and ninety-eight males and 146 females, above 18 years old, beneficiaries of the Mexican Institute of Social Security with a diagnosis of stroke between 2018 and 2021. InterventionsThe Barthel index that assesses the degree of dependence to perform basic activities of daily living was applied to the participants and sociodemographic, biological and anthropometric variables were collected from the digital medical record. Main measures: A univariate, correlational and ordinal logistic regression statistical analysis was performed between independent and dependent variables to obtain measures of frequency, percentages, and associated risks. Results: The risk factors associated with disability were age (OR 1.03, CI 1.01–1.05), overweight (OR 1.81, CI 1.03–3.1), obesity grade I (OR 2.74, CI 1.46–5.1), obesity grade II (OR 4.38, CI 1.44–13), obesity grade III (OR 9.99, CI 2.12–47); type of stroke: ischemic (OR 4.60, CI 2.6–8) or thrombotic (OR 4.95, CI 1.57–15). The number of comorbidities was associated with disability when having one comorbidity (OR 2.80, CI 1.22–6.4), two comorbidities (OR 3.43, CI 1.37–8.5), three comorbidities (OR 2.71, CI 1.01–7.3), and with five comorbidities (OR 3.17, CI 1.01–9.9). Conclusions: The risk factors found for disability were age, overweight, obesity, and type of ischemic and thrombotic stroke. Being cared for by a relative and/or spouse reduces the probability of disability.(AU)

Ketorolac removal through photoelectrocatalysis using TiO2 nanotubes in water system.

Ketorolac, a highly persistent NSAID of environmental concern, was significantly removed from water (80% removal) through photoelectrocatalysis where titanium dioxide nanotubes prepared by Ti foil electrochemical anodization at 30 V were used as photoanodes. Fifteen milligrams per liter of ketorolac solutions in a 0.05 M Na2SO4 aqueous medium was subjected to irradiation from a 365-nm light with an intensity of 1 mWcm-2 and under an applied potential of 1.3 V (vs. Hg/Hg2SO4/sat.K2SO4) at pH 6.0. When each process (photo and electrocatalysis) was carried out separately, less than 20% drug removal was achieved as monitored through UV-vis spectrophotometry. Through scavenging experiments, direct oxidation on the photogenerated holes and oxidation by hydroxyl radical formation were found to play a key role on ketorolac's degradation. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) analyses also showed a significant COD decreased (68%) since the initial COD value was 31.3 mg O2/L and the final COD value was 10.1 mg O2/L. A 48% mineralization was also achieved, as shown by total organic carbon (TOC) analyses. These results showed that electrodes based on titania nanotubes are a promising alternative material for simultaneous photocatalytic and electrocatalytic processes in water remediation.

[Risk factors for disability in patients with stroke in northeastern Mexico: A retrospective cross-sectional study]. / Factores de riesgo para discapacidad en pacientes con accidente cerebrovascular en el noreste de México: estudio retrospectivo transversal.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the risk factors associated with disability in patients who had a stroke in northeastern Mexico. DESIGN: This was an observational, retrospective, cross-sectional study. SITE: Conducted at the Family Medicine Unit No. 33 of the Mexican Institute of Social Security in Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. PARTICIPANTS: One hundred and ninety-eight males and 146 females, above 18 years old, beneficiaries of the Mexican Institute of Social Security with a diagnosis of stroke between 2018 and 2021. INTERVENTIONS: The Barthel index that assesses the degree of dependence to perform basic activities of daily living was applied to the participants and sociodemographic, biological and anthropometric variables were collected from the digital medical record. MAIN MEASURES: A univariate, correlational and ordinal logistic regression statistical analysis was performed between independent and dependent variables to obtain measures of frequency, percentages, and associated risks. RESULTS: The risk factors associated with disability were age (OR 1.03, CI 1.01-1.05), overweight (OR 1.81, CI 1.03-3.1), obesity grade I (OR 2.74, CI 1.46-5.1), obesity grade II (OR 4.38, CI 1.44-13), obesity grade III (OR 9.99, CI 2.12-47); type of stroke: ischemic (OR 4.60, CI 2.6-8) or thrombotic (OR 4.95, CI 1.57-15). The number of comorbidities was associated with disability when having one comorbidity (OR 2.80, CI 1.22-6.4), two comorbidities (OR 3.43, CI 1.37-8.5), three comorbidities (OR 2.71, CI 1.01-7.3), and with five comorbidities (OR 3.17, CI 1.01-9.9). CONCLUSIONS: The risk factors found for disability were age, overweight, obesity, and type of ischemic and thrombotic stroke. Being cared for by a relative and/or spouse reduces the probability of disability.

Adaptive sensorless control for interior permanent magnet synchronious motor based on sliding mode approach.

This paper proposes an adaptive sensorless control based on sliding mode approach for Interior Permanent Magnet Synchronous Motor (IPMSM) using the method of the angular position estimation error extraction. The proposed strategy combines a novel Adaptive Super-Twisting Controller (ASTWC) with a novel Adaptive Observer High-Order Sliding Mode (AOHOSM), where: (i) The control and observer gains are parameterized in terms of a single parameter simplifying its implementation and reducing the tuning time. (ii) By using an auxiliary system, which does not depend on machine parameters, an AOHOSM is designed for estimating the angular position, speed and acceleration in a wide speed range of the IPMSM, (iii) and these are used in an ASTWC to track a desired reference of speed and direct-axis current. (iv) Sufficient conditions are given to ensure the stability of the closed-loop system using a Lyapunov approach. Furthermore, the proposed strategy is validated throughout experimental set-up in order to show its effectiveness. Finally, a comparative study between the proposed strategy and other strategies published in the literature is addressed.

Novel adaptive law for super-twisting controller: USV tracking control under disturbances.

A novel adaptive super-twisting control algorithm, for Unmanned Surface Vehicles (USV) tracking control is presented. The proposed adaptive law is obtained using a Lyapunov approach, to analyze the system closed-loop stability. Furthermore, several conditions are given to guarantee robustness in presence of unknown bounded disturbances/uncertainties, chattering mitigation and the finite-time convergence. This adaptive control strategy has the advantage that the controller gains, which are in terms of a single control parameter, requires adjusting a small number of parameters compared with other adaptive strategies, moreover and its dynamics is smooth, improving the controller performance. To assess the proposed control methodology effectiveness, a trajectory tracking control is designed and implemented on an unmanned surface vehicle under the action of bounded unknown uncertainties and external perturbations. Numerical simulations and experimental results conducted with a vessel prototype demonstrate the performance and advantages under payload variations and external environmental conditions. Finally, a comparative study between the proposed approach with other adaptive super-twisting works has been conducted.

Reinforcement and Curriculum Learning for Off-Road Navigation of an UGV with a 3D LiDAR.

This paper presents the use of deep Reinforcement Learning (RL) for autonomous navigation of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) with an onboard three-dimensional (3D) Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor in off-road environments. For training, both the robotic simulator Gazebo and the Curriculum Learning paradigm are applied. Furthermore, an Actor-Critic Neural Network (NN) scheme is chosen with a suitable state and a custom reward function. To employ the 3D LiDAR data as part of the input state of the NNs, a virtual two-dimensional (2D) traversability scanner is developed. The resulting Actor NN has been successfully tested in both real and simulated experiments and favorably compared with a previous reactive navigation approach on the same UGV.

Shared decision making with schizophrenic patients: a randomized controlled clinical trial with booster sessions (DECIDE Study).

BACKGROUND: The treatment of schizophrenia requires a prolonged, multidimensional intervention that includes antipsychotic drugs. Treatment adherence is essential to effectively control the disorder. Shared decision-making (SDM) is a strategy, supported by numerous practical and ethical arguments, that seeks to involve patients in the therapeutic process to improve treatment adherence and satisfaction. The use of this model in mental health has been limited for many intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. The results of clinical trials conducted to date have largely been disappointing, potential due to study design-related limitations. AIM/QUESTION: To evaluate the efficacy, in terms of treatment adherence and improvement in clinical variables, such as severity of symptoms, days of hospitalization or insight, of a carefully timed SDM model initiated immediately prior to hospital discharge in patients with schizophrenia. METHODS: Single-blind, randomized clinical trial in an acute psychiatric care unit within the Andalusian Health Department to compare SDM (experimental group) to treatment as usual (TAU; control group) in a sample of patients hospitalized for an acute episode of schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. The study was performed between January 2014 and June 2017. The experimental group participated in SDM sessions prior to discharge with regular booster sessions over the one-year follow-up. The health care team responsible for SDM was predisposed to concordance (LatCon II scale) and received specific training in SDM. A hierarchical multiple linear regression analysis was performed to evaluate the factors independently associated with adherence, controlling for sociodemographic, clinical, and admission-related variables. Variables were assessed at admission, discharge and at 3, 6 and 12 months after discharge during the one year follow up. BARS, DAI, WAI-S, COMRADE and PANSS were used to evaluate adherence, attitude to treatment, therapeutic alliance, satisfaction and confidence with decision and clinical status, respectively. RESULTS: A total of 227 schizophrenic patients hospitalized with acute decompensation were evaluated; of these, 102 met all inclusion criteria and were included in the study. Most patients (95%) had prior experience with antipsychotics and most (82%) had experienced related side effects. Despite randomization, psychopathologic severity was greater in the experimental group, with a mean (SD) PANSS score of 104.08 (80) vs. 93.45 (20.30) (p < 0.05). The final regression model to explain adherence was significant (adjusted R2 = 0.384; F [df= 6] = 4.386; p < 0.001), with a direct, significant and independent association with SDM mediated by the number of booster sessions. DISCUSSION: Shared decision making with booster sessions appears to increase treatment adherence in patients with severe mental disorders. IMPLICATION ON PRACTICE: Ethical, practical, and clinical reasons support the use of strategies designed promote the use of long-term, shared decision-making in psychiatric patients, especially in schizophrenia spectrum disorder.

Vision-Based Autonomous Following of a Moving Platform and Landing for an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle.

Interest in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) has increased due to their versatility and variety of applications, however their battery life limits their applications. Heterogeneous multi-robot systems can offer a solution to this limitation, by allowing an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) to serve as a recharging station for the aerial one. Moreover, cooperation between aerial and terrestrial robots allows them to overcome other individual limitations, such as communication link coverage or accessibility, and to solve highly complex tasks, e.g., environment exploration, infrastructure inspection or search and rescue. This work proposes a vision-based approach that enables an aerial robot to autonomously detect, follow, and land on a mobile ground platform. For this purpose, ArUcO fiducial markers are used to estimate the relative pose between the UAV and UGV by processing RGB images provided by a monocular camera on board the UAV. The pose estimation is fed to a trajectory planner and four decoupled controllers to generate speed set-points relative to the UAV. Using a cascade loop strategy, these set-points are then sent to the UAV autopilot for inner loop control. The proposed solution has been tested both in simulation, with a digital twin of a solar farm using ROS, Gazebo and Ardupilot Software-in-the-Loop (SiL); and in the real world at IST Lisbon's outdoor facilities, with a UAV built on the basis of a DJ550 Hexacopter and a modified Jackal ground robot from DJI and Clearpath Robotics, respectively. Pose estimation, trajectory planning and speed set-point are computed on board the UAV, using a Single Board Computer (SBC) running Ubuntu and ROS, without the need for external infrastructure.

Simple preparation of broadband UV filters based on TiO2 coated with aqueous extracts of native trees from the Chaco region of Argentina.

The native forest of northwestern Argentina, as part of the Chaco region, is a rich and unexploited source of phytochemical compounds for medicinal/cosmetic applications. In the present study, fruit, leaf, branch, and bark organs of the native trees Sarcomphalus mistol (Mistol, M) and Schinopsis lorentzii (Quebracho Colorado santiagueño, QC) were harvested, and aqueous plant extracts (PE) were prepared. The spectroscopic (UV-Vis absorbance, diffuse reflectance, ATR-FTIR) and antioxidant (TEAC, Folin-Ciocalteu) properties of PE were characterized and used as TiO2 coating material to obtain a series of TiO2@PE nanocomposites. These materials showed almost null photocatalytic activity compared to aqueous suspensions of bare TiO2, displaying yellowish to brownish coloration and high long-term stability in both freshwater and seawater model solutions. The loss of photocatalytic activity in TiO2@PE was associated with the combination of the internal filter effect and the antioxidant/radical capacity exerted by the phytochemicals of the PE coating, with higher broadband photoprotection for the nanocomposites prepared with QC extracts. Thus, this study shows the potential capacity of the forest resources of the Chaco region of Argentina for the development of new cosmetic and/or sun protection formulations.

Determination of the Anthropometric Measures of the Lips by Age Groups in the Mestiza Population.

Measurements from a certain population may show a similar pattern that allows an alteration to be easily recognized and enable a better surgical approach. In our population, the changes in the anthropometric measurements of the lips are unknown, so our objective is to determine the variations in these measurements by decades of age to achieve a better aesthetic and reconstructive surgical approach. Anthropometric measurements of the lips were taken with a vernier in relation to the previously marked anatomical points. The sample consists of 174 patients who came for care not related to labial pathologies with ages between 20 and 80 years with Mexican nationality. We use the sample calculation formula to estimate an average, with an alpha error of 0.5 and a tolerance of 2 mm of the data for the measurements of the height of the lower face with an average measurement of 56.2 mm and a SD of 8.87 mm of the Marzena's article. Wyganowska-Swiatkowska and colleagues Average measurements were obtained, where a progressive longitudinal increase in measures: al-ch, sbl-cph, sn-Is, li-sto, cph-Is, li-sl, ch-li, li-pg according to aging is confirmed. In contrast, the ch-cph and ch-sbl measures, remain the same despite the aging, showing greater changes in the sagittal plane than in the parasagittal. The study only shows measures of length, so caring out a magnetic resonance imaging study to also measure the volume and perform it with a larger sample to have the optimal standard is further needed.

Comparison of the CytoSorb® 300 mL and Jafron HA380 hemoadsorption devices: an in vitro study.

INTRODUCTION: We performed an analysis of two blood purification systems to determine their performance for removing interleukins (ILs)-6 and 10, tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and monocyte chemoattractant protein (MCP)-1 from blood. MATERIAL AND METHODS: An in vitro hemoperfusion blood recirculation circuit was used to compare the CytoSorb® 300 mL (CytoSorbents Inc., Princeton, NJ) and Jafron HA 380 (Jafron Biomedical Co., Ltd., Zhuhai City, China) devices. The removal of purified recombinant human IL-6, IL-10, TNFα and MCP-1 by the adsorbers was compared at various timepoints. Three runs were completed and removal was evaluated as the mean area under the curve (AUC). RESULTS: Both devices showed effective removal of the tested cytokines. IL-6, IL-10, TNFα and MCP-1 were removed faster and to a higher extent by the CytoSorb® 300 mL device. At maximal time of 12 h, overall removal according to AUC of remaining concentrations was significantly lower with CytoSorb® 300 mL compared with HA 380 (IL-6: 1075.5 ± 665.9 vs. 4345.1 ± 1499.3 (p = 0.01), IL-10: 5065.7 ± 882.5 vs. 11,939.7 ± 4523.1 (p = 0.03), TNF-α: 6519.9 ± 997.6 vs. 10,303.7 ± 2347.0 (p = 0.03) and MCP-1: 278.9 ± 40.7 vs. 607.3 ± 84.4 (p = 0.001)). CONCLUSIONS: Both the CytoSorb® and the Jafron HA 380 devices are capable of removing cytokines from blood in a benchtop model. The CytoSorb® 300 device was significantly more efficient achieving the bulk of the removal in the first 120 min.

Automatically Annotated Dataset of a Ground Mobile Robot in Natural Environments via Gazebo Simulations.

This paper presents a new synthetic dataset obtained from Gazebo simulations of an Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UGV) moving on different natural environments. To this end, a Husky mobile robot equipped with a tridimensional (3D) Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) sensor, a stereo camera, a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, an Inertial Measurement Unit (IMU) and wheel tachometers has followed several paths using the Robot Operating System (ROS). Both points from LiDAR scans and pixels from camera images, have been automatically labeled into their corresponding object class. For this purpose, unique reflectivity values and flat colors have been assigned to each object present in the modeled environments. As a result, a public dataset, which also includes 3D pose ground-truth, is provided as ROS bag files and as human-readable data. Potential applications include supervised learning and benchmarking for UGV navigation on natural environments. Moreover, to allow researchers to easily modify the dataset or to directly use the simulations, the required code has also been released.

Antithrombotic drug removal from whole blood using Haemoadsorption with a porous polymer bead sorbent.

AIM: To evaluate the ability of the DrugSorb™-AntiThrombotic Removal (ATR) haemoadsorption device utilizing porous polymer bead sorbent technology to remove three commonly used antithrombotic drugs from whole blood. METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated the removal of apixaban, rivaroxaban, and ticagrelor by the DrugSorb-ATR haemoadsorption device in a benchtop clinical scale model using bovine whole blood. Blood spiked at clinically relevant concentrations of an antithrombotic agent was continuously circulated through a 300-mL DrugSorb-ATR haemoadsorption device at a flow rate of 300 mL/min. Drug concentration was monitored over 6 h to evaluate drug removal. Results were compared with a control circuit without the haemoadsorption device. Removal rates at 30, 60, 120, and 360 minutes were: apixaban: 81.5%, 96.3%, 99.3% >99.8%; rivaroxaban: 80.7%, 95.1%, 98.9%, >99.5%; ticagrelor: 62.5%; 75%, 86.6%, >95% (all P <0.0001 vs. control). Blood pH and haematological parameters were not significantly affected by the DrugSorb-ATR haemoadsorption device when compared with the control circuit. CONCLUSION: DrugSorb-ATR efficiently removes apixaban, rivaroxaban, and ticagrelor in a clinical-scale benchtop recirculation circuit with the bulk of removal occurring in the first 60 minutes. The clinical implications of these findings are currently investigated in patients undergoing on-pump cardiothoracic surgery in two US pivotal trials (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifiers: NCT04976530 and NCT05093504).

A Redundant Configuration of Four Low-Cost GNSS-RTK Receivers for Reliable Estimation of Vehicular Position and Posture.

This paper proposes a low-cost sensor system composed of four GNSS-RTK receivers to obtain accurate position and posture estimations for a vehicle in real-time. The four antennas of the receivers are placed so that every three-antennas combination is optimal to get the most precise 3D coordinates with respect to a global reference system. The redundancy provided by the fourth receiver allows to improve estimations even more and to maintain accuracy when one of the receivers fails. A mini computer with the Robotic Operating System is responsible for merging all the available measurements reliably. Successful experiments have been carried out with a ground rover on irregular terrain. Angular estimates similar to those of a high-performance IMU have been achieved in dynamic tests.

In vitro and In vivo Synergistic Interactions of the Flavonoid Rutin with Paracetamol and with Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs.

AIM/BACKGROUND: The combination of drugs with different mechanisms of action could be more effective due to an enhanced synergistic activity. The pharmacological interactions between rutin and paracetamol, and rutin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as naproxen, ketorolac, and diclofenac were investigated using in vitro and in vivo assays. METHODS: Individual and drug combination response curves of rutin-NSAIDs, and rutin-paracetamol (each at 0.001-0.1 mmol for in vitro studies and ranging from 1.25-100 mg/kg p.o. for in vivo studies) were evaluated in RAW 264.7 macrophages [inhibition of nitric oxide (NO) using the Griess reagent] and Balb/c mice (acetic acid-induced writhing test). An isobolographic analysis was used to assess the type of interaction between rutin and NSAIDs and rutin-paracetamol in a proportion of 1:1. RESULTS: Rutin alone and in combination with paracetamol and NSAIDs decreased NO production and the number of writhings in a concentration/dose-dependent manner. The isobolograms showed that all in vitro combinations of rutin-NSAIDs and rutin-paracetamol exerted synergistic effects. The combination rutin-diclofenac showed an interaction index of 0.17. In the in vivo assay, the combinations of rutin-diclofenac (interaction index = 0.195) and rutin-ketorolac (interaction index = 0.408) displayed synergistic effects, and the combination rutin-paracetamol exhibited additive effects. CONCLUSION: Rutin produces synergistic effects with paracetamol and NSAIDs in in vitro and in vivo assays.

State and parameter estimation for a class of Nonlinear Systems based on Sliding Mode Approach.

In this paper, simultaneous state estimation and parameters identification for a class of nonlinear systems are addressed. With the aim of solving this problem, an adaptive observer based on the sliding mode (AOSM) approach is designed. The main advantage of the proposed adaptive observer design is that it combines the robustness and finite time convergence of the sliding mode observers, with the simplicity of tuning of high-gain observers, reducing tuning effort. The finite time convergence of the proposed adaptive observer is established using a Lyapunov approach. Furthermore, a comparative study of the proposed adaptive observer against schemes from literature is presented, in order to show the advantages of the proposed approach. Finally, numerical results are provided to demonstrate the effectiveness and performance of the proposed approach under noise and external disturbances.

Observer-based super twisting design: A comparative study on quadrotor altitude control.

This paper addresses the design of a continuous super twisting control combined with a high-order sliding mode observer for a class of nonlinear systems. An analysis of closed-loop stability is provided by means of Lyapunov approach, where sufficient conditions are given to ensure the convergence and to select the gains of the proposed controller. Numerical simulation and experimental results illustrate the performance of the proposed control-observer scheme for controlling the altitude of a quad-rotor aircraft. Furthermore, a comparative study against similar approaches from literature is included for illustrating that proposed methodology requires less control effort while shows the best performance.

Photocatalytic Efficiency Tuning by the Surface Roughness of TiO2 Coatings on Glass Prepared by the Doctor Blade Method.

A set of opaque films were prepared with Degussa P25® or Hombikat UV100® TiO2 powders by the doctor blade method on glass slides with different compositions of polyethylene glycol of 20 kDa (PEG20), and they were characterized by spectroscopy, microscopy and photochemical kinetics measurements. After annealing treatment at 450 °C, about 5-7% C atom was incorporated into the films, as a consequence of the degradation of the organic complexing agents, inducing a small reduction of the energy band gap of TiO2 (i.e. 3.02 ≤ Eg (eV) ≤ 3.08). All films were about 15 ± 2 µm thick but their micro-morphological characteristics depended on the content of PEG20, showing different patterns of cracks and aggregates that produce intense light scattering and retransmission phenomena with the result of a three-dimensional excitation of the TiO2 particles in the thick film. Back-face excitation with UVA light (365 ± 42 nm) of the opaque films in contact with an aqueous solution produced both surface-bound and free hydroxyl radicals (HO• ), as detected using a coumarin solution as a radical dosimeter. The photogeneration efficiency of HO• decreased with the surface roughness of the films, which varied between 135 and 439 nm depending on the film's composition.