Organ xenotransplantation acceptance in veterinary students: A multicentric opinion study in Spain.

BACKGROUND: The shortage of available transplant organs has made it necessary to search for alternatives, one of which is xenotransplantation. However, the use of animal organs could face rejection from society and the personnel involved in its implementation. OBJECTIVES: (a) to analyze the attitudes of Veterinary Degree students in six Spanish Universities towards xenotransplantation; and (b) to determine the factors that affect its acceptance. METHODS: Of the 2815 students surveyed in the degree program, 2683 valid surveys were obtained. Attitudes towards organ xenotransplantation were evaluated using a validated questionnaire of organ donation. RESULTS: If xenotransplantation was confirmed as a clinical reality, 93% (n = 2493) of those surveyed would accept a xenotransplanted organ, whilst 7% would not. If the results of xenotransplantation were worse than those obtained with human donors and it entailed more risk, 12% (n = 318) would be in favor. 56% (n = 1497) of the students would accept a xenotransplantation provisionally pending the arrival of a human organ. Attitudes towards xenotransplantation were affected by the academic year in which a student was studying, with more favorable attitudes among students in the last year (88% in first year vs. 95% in fifth year; p < .001). More favorable attitudes are also observed depending on the attitude they have towards organ transplantation, with those students being more in favor of donating their organs when they die (94% vs. 88%; p < .001). CONCLUSION: Veterinary students would have a very favorable attitude toward xenotransplantation if these animal organs functioned as well as human organs. Therefore, these students could play an important role in the future promotion of this technique.

Advantages of using relevant nearly optimal solutions in multi-objective tuning of robust controllers.

This paper presents a new approach for the multiobjective optimal design of robust controllers in systems with stochastic parametric uncertainty. Traditionally, uncertainty is incorporated into the optimization process. However, this can generate two problems: (1) low performance in the nominal scenario; and (2) high computational cost. For the first point, it is possible to ensure that the controllers produce an acceptable performance for the nominal scenario in exchange for being lightly robust. For the second point, the methodology proposed in this work reduces the computational cost significantly. This approach addresses uncertainty by analyzing the robustness of optimal and nearly optimal controllers in the nominal scenario. The methodology guarantees obtaining controllers that are similar/neighboring to lightly robust controllers. Two examples of controller design are shown: one for a linear model and another for a nonlinear model. Both examples demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed new approach.

[Comparative analysis of Grade I vs Grade II intracranial Meningiomas in a retrospective series of 63 patients]. / Análisis comparativo de meningiomas cerebrales Grado I vs Grado II en una serie retrospectiva de 63 pacientes operados.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to demonstrate the differences between grade I and II (OMS classification) of intracranial meningiomas. We evaluate their location, Simpson resection grade, re-operations rate, adjuvant treatment and patient outcomes. METHODS: We conduct a retrospective review of Sixty- three clinical records of patients who were diagnosed with meningiomas grade I and II (OMS) between 2009-2015 and received surgical treatment at our Hospital. We evaluated different variables such as age, sex, histological type, Simpson grade resection, location, symptoms, radiotherapy, follow-up, mortality rate and patient outcome. The main aim was to establish the differences between these intracranial tumors. RESULTS: A total of sixty-three patients diagnosed with meningiomas and received surgical treatment; fifty-one were grade I and thirteen with grade II. There were no differences in the rate between man and women. The average age for both types of meningiomas was 57 years old. The typical meningiomas were located in 55% of the cases outside the cranial base vs. 91.6% of the atypical meningiomas (P = 0.03). Typical meningioma had a Simpson resection grade of I, II and III in 74.5% against 58.3% of the atypical (P = 0.2). The atypical meningioma in 33% had more than one-stage surgery vs. 9.8% of the typical (P = 0.03). The patients with a typical meningioma showed a good outcome in 86.2% vs. 53.8 of the grade II (P = 0, 01). The typical meningiomas showed a good outcome in 82.2% of the cases vs. 53.8% of the atypical. The grade II meningiomas received adjuvant treatment in 33.3%, while the grade I only 1.9%. CONCLUSIONS: The atypical intracranial meningiomas have a worse outcome compared with the typical kind and a higher incidence of re-operations. These tumors have a preference for a location outside the cranial base. Concluding that the location could be a risk factor.