Alejandro Alonso

Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques are being used in general-purpose industrial computing systems. There is a great interest in expanding its use across other types of systems. However, they are not immediately applicable to embedded safety-critical systems. In particular, in spacecrafts, there are subsystems with high integrity requirements, which means that their failure could affect the overall behavior of the vehicle or even the loss of the complete mission. This paper deals with the use of some relevant AI techniques onboard space systems. Machine Learning and Neural Networks are potential techniques for these systems. The objective of this paper is to evaluate its applicability, select the most appropriate tools, and determine its feasibility to place onboard the satellite. Through the analysis of standards proposals, and a thermal estimation use case, we identify the issues, challenges, and guidelines to be …

The digitization of natural history specimens and the popularization of citizen science are creating an unprecedented availability of large amounts of biodiversity data. These biodiversity inventories can be severely affected by species misidentification, a source of taxonomic uncertainty that is rarely acknowledged in biodiversity data management. For these reasons, taxonomists debate the use of online repositories to address biological questions at the species level. Hedera L. (ivies) provides an excellent case study as it is well represented in both herbaria and online repositories with thousands of records likely to be affected by high taxonomic uncertainty. We analyze the sources and extent of taxonomic errors in the identification of the European ivy species by reviewing herbarium specimens and find a high misidentification rate (18% on average), which varies between species (maximized in H. hibernica: 55%; H …

IntroductionWe (and others) have shown that a brief activation of conventional NK cells with the cytokine combination IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 generates cytokine-induced memory-like (CIML) NK cells which exhibit enhanced anti-tumor responses, have a longer half-life, and show promising activity in several early phase clinical trials. Tregs have a constitutive expression of CTLA-4. We, therefore, hypothesized the use of CTLA-4 blockade with ipilimumab (IPI) would deplete Tregs in vivo and thus allow enhanced proliferation, activation, and anti-tumor responses of the adoptively transferred CIML NK cells.Objectives1. Evaluate the effect of IPI pre-exposure on expansion of donor CIML NK cells2. Evaluate the effect of IPI pre-exposure on recipient T cell populationsMethodsWe enrolled 10 patients with refractory head and neck cancer (NCT04290546). All patients received lymphodepletion with fludarabine (25 mg/m2 x …

The inclusive Higgs boson production cross-section is measured in the di-photon and the decay channels using 31.4 and 29.0 fb of pp collision data respectively, collected with the ATLAS detector at a centre-of-mass energy of  . To reduce the model dependence, the measurement in each channel is restricted to a particle-level phase space that closely matches the channel’s detector-level kinematic selection, and it is corrected for detector effects. These measured fiducial cross-sections are   fb, and   fb, in agreement with the corresponding Standard Model predictions of  fb and  fb. Assuming Standard Model acceptances and branching fractions for the two channels, the fiducial measurements are extrapolated to the full phase space yielding total cross-sections of  pb and  pb at 13.6  from the di-photon and  …

The interaction between inhaled drug-loaded nanoparticles and pulmonary surfactant (PS) is critical for the efficacy and safety of inhaled nanomedicines. Here, we investigated the effect of small interfering RNA (siRNA)-loaded lipid-polymer hybrid nanoparticles (LPNs), which are designed for treatment of lung inflammation, on the physiological function of PS. By using biophysical in vitro methods we show that siRNA-loaded LPNs affect the biophysical function and lateral structure of PS. We used the Langmuir monolayer technique to demonstrate that LPNs display intrinsic surface activity by forming interfacial films that collapse at 49 mN/m, and they competitively inhibit the adsorption and spreading of PS components at the air–liquid interface. However, LPNs are excluded from the interface into the aqueous subphase at surface pressures above 49 mN/m, and hence they overcome the PS monolayer film barrier …

Attitude determination is a fundamental task of the Attitude Determination and Control Subsystem (ADCS). It involves determining the spacecraft's orientation with respect to a reference system and calculating its angular velocity, which is essential for understanding where the payload is pointing and the spacecraft's stability. The determination of the attitude is obtained using sensors such as Sun sensors, Nadir sensors, or Star trackers. Regarding the spacecraft angular velocity, gyroscopes or MEMs can be used to measure the angular velocity of the satellite, but in their absence the velocity can be derived from the attitude data of the other sensors. However, this method requires a sampling rate to be twice the frequency of the movement, otherwise the angular velocity cannot be calculated with traditional methods. To address this issue, this study proposes a thermal analysis of the external temperatures of a rotating …

Lupus anticoagulant hypoprothrombinemia syndrome (LAHPS) is a rare entity associated with an increased risk of hemorrhage. Corticosteroids have been used in its treatment with favorable results. We present the case of a 54‐year‐old female patient with a personal history of Lupus diagnosed with LAHPS following an episode of cerebellar hemorrhage.

The global digitization effort and the popularization of citizen science is providing unprecedented amount of biodiversity online data. However, these databases can be severely affected by species misidentifications, whose validation may require access to specimens. This is often difficult, as most online records lack a physical voucher, and time-consuming in all cases. For this reason, the use of online databases to address biological questions has long been questioned by taxonomists. Ivies (Hedera L.) are an excellent case to evaluate this issue as they have tons of online records, whose use at the species level is questioned due to a high expected taxonomic uncertainty. Here we analyze the sources and extent of taxonomic errors in ivy species in Europe, the area of the world with the highest number of species. We estimate a high misidentification rate (18% on average), varying between species (maximized in H. iberica: 38%; H. azorica: 48%, H. hibernica: 55%) and regions (maximized in Spain: 27%, UK: 38%). We identify a systematic misidentification of all European ivies with H. helix and analyze the associated cascade error effects. We compile a spatial database to overcome the large discrepancies we observed in species distributions between online and morphologically reviewed records.

Purpose: Patients with recurrent incurable, or metastatic (R/M) head and neck cancers (HNCs) refractory to platinum and immunotherapy have poor survival. Cellular therapies have emerged as treatments with potential activity in solid tumors. This proof-of-concept trial investigated an allogeneic cytokine-induced, memory-like (CIML) NK cell infusion followed by IL-15 superagonist (sa) after lead-in CTLA-4 inhibition (ipilimumab) plus lymphodepleting (LD) chemotherapy in advanced HNC. Methods: This phase 1 single-center trial enrolled patients (pts) with R/M HNC (n=7 HNSCC, n=3 salivary cancer) regardless of human papillomavirus (HPV) status who had prior platinum and immunotherapy. Pts in cohort 1 received LD fludarabine (25 mg/m2) and cyclophosphamide (60 mg/m2/kg) on days -6 to -2 prior to haploidentical CIML NK cell infusion on day 0 (5-10 × 106 viable cells/kg=dose level 0) followed by N-803 …

IntroductionBelantamab mafodotin (BM) is a new anti-BCMA antibody–drug conjugate, recently approved for triple-class relapsed and refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM). We assessed real-world outcomes with BM in patients under the Spanish Expanded Access Program (EAP).MethodsWe conducted an observational, retrospective, multicenter study including RRMM patients who received ≥ 1 dose of BM (Nov 2019 to Jun 2021). The primary endpoint was overall response rate (ORR). Secondary endpoints were progression-free survival (PFS), overall survival (OS), and incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs).ResultsThirty-three patients were included with a median of 70 years of age (range, 46–79 years). Median time from diagnosis was 71 months (range, 10–858 months). Median prior lines was 5 (range, 3–8 lines); 90% of patients were triple-/quad-/penta-refractory; 48% showed high-risk …

IntroductionRegulatory T cells (Tregs) blunt anti-tumor responses of major immune effector cells including CD8 T cells and natural killer (NK) cells. Tregs constitutively express CTLA-4 and thus the use of ipilimumab, a CTLA-4 blocker can potentially overcome the Treg-mediated immune suppression. We (and others) have shown that a brief activation of conventional NK cells with the cytokine combination IL-12, IL-15, and IL-18 generates cytokine-induced memory-like (CIML) NK cells which exhibit enhanced anti-tumor responses, have a longer half-life (up to 90 vs ~12 days of conventional NK cells), and show promising activity in several early phase clinical trials. N-803 is an IL-15 super-agonist with a long half-life that preferentially activates and expands NK and CD8+ T cells without affecting Tregs, making it an ideal cytokine for combining with adoptive immunotherapy. In the current study, we hypothesized the …

Introducción. El estudio se enfoca en las fracturas de cadera en pacientes mayores de 60 años, que están en aumento, debido al incremento de la expectativa de vida ya la participación en actividades que pueden ocasionar fracturas. El objetivo del estudio es detectar la falta de información relevante en las historias clínicas de estos pacientes y medir la calidad de los registros antes de la implementación de la historia clínica de ortogeriatría.

Studies of the correlations of the two highest transverse momentum (leading) jets in individual Pb+ Pb collision events can provide information about the mechanism of jet quenching by the hot and dense matter created in such collisions. In Pb+ Pb and p p collisions at s N N= 5.02 TeV, measurements of the leading dijet transverse momentum (p T) correlations are presented. Additionally, measurements in Pb+ Pb collisions of the dijet pair nuclear modification factors projected along leading and subleading jet p T are made. The measurements are performed using the ATLAS detector at the LHC with 260 pb− 1 of p p data collected in 2017 and 2.2 nb− 1 of Pb+ Pb data collected in 2015 and 2018. An unfolding procedure is applied to the two-dimensional leading and subleading jet p T distributions to account for experimental effects in the measurement of both jets. Results are provided for dijets with leading jet p T …

Searches for long-lived particles (LLPs) are among the most promising avenues for discovering physics beyond the Standard Model at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). However, displaced signatures are notoriously difficult to identify due to their ability to evade standard object reconstruction strategies. In particular, the ATLAS track reconstruction applies strict pointing requirements which limit sensitivity to charged particles originating far from the primary interaction point. To recover efficiency for LLPs decaying within the tracking detector volume, the ATLAS Collaboration employs a dedicated large-radius tracking (LRT) pass with loosened pointing requirements. During Run 2 of the LHC, the LRT implementation produced many incorrectly reconstructed tracks and was therefore only deployed in small subsets of events. In preparation for LHC Run 3, ATLAS has significantly improved both standard and large-radius …

Kleefstra syndrome in humans is characterized by a general delay in development, intellectual disability and autistic features. The mouse model of this disease (Ehmt1±) expresses anxiety, autistic-like traits, and aberrant social interactions with non-cagemates. To investigate how Ehmt1± mice behave with unfamiliar conspecifics, we allowed adult, male animals to freely interact for 10 min in a neutral, novel environment within a host-visitor setting. In trials where the Ehmt1± mice were hosts, there were defensive and offensive behaviors. Our key finding was that Ehmt1± mice displayed defensive postures, attacking and biting; in contrast, wild-type (WT) interacting with other WT did not enact such behaviors. Further, if there was a fight between an Ehmt1± and a WT mouse, the Ehmt1± animal was the most aggressive and always initiated these behaviors.

SARS-Cov2 s, caused high mortality in patients with some degree of immunosuppression, like those that receive a hematopoietic progenitor transplant. 1 Since December 2020, several vaccines have been developed having been key in decreasing complications and mortality in this group of patients. 2, 3 Different articles have described the presence of thrombopenia related to the administration of vaccines, however, data on the occurrence of neutropenia as a side effect after administration are few. 4, 5 We present several cases of neutropenia (defined as absolute neutrophil count (ANC) less than 2,000/mm3), after vaccination in hematopoietic progenitor transplant (HPT) recipients performed in our center during 2021. We conducted a retrospective study of adult patients undergoing HSCT (allogeneic and autologous) during the year 2021 at the Hospital Universitario de la Princesa and who received at least one …

Methods: ELM-2 is a global, multicenter study that enrolled adult pts with FL Grade 1–3a who were relapsed/refractory (R/R) after≥ 2 prior lines of therapy (LOT) including an anti-CD20 Ab and an alkylator. Informed consent was obtained from all pts. IV odronextamab was administered in 21-day cycles with steroid prophylaxis and step-up dosing during Cycle (C) 1. The initial step-up regimen consisted of 1 mg split over C1 Day (D) 1 and C1D2, and 20 mg split over C1D8 and C1D9, then the full 80 mg dose on C1D15 (1/20 regimen). This regimen was revised during the study to further mitigate risk of cytokine release syndrome (CRS), with the modified regimen consisting of 0.7 mg split over C1D1 (0.2 mg) and C1D2 (0.5 mg), 4 mg split over C1D8 and C1D9, and 20 mg split over C1D15 and C1D16, then the 80 mg full dose on C2D1 (0.7/4/20 regimen). 80 mg QW continued until the end of C4, followed by 160 mg …

Cannabidiol (CBD) is on the rise as over-the-counter medication to treat sleep disturbances, anxiety, pain, and epilepsy due to its action on the excitatory/inhibitory balance in the brain. However, it remains unclear if CBD also leads to adverse effects on memory via changes of sleep macro- and microarchitecture. To investigate the effect of CBD on sleep and memory consolidation, we performed two experiments using the object space task testing for both simple and cumulative memory in rats. We show that oral CBD administration extended the sleep period but changed the properties of rest and non-REM sleep oscillations (delta, spindle, ripples). Specifically, CBD also led to less long (>100 ms) ripples and, consequently, worse cumulative memory consolidation. In contrast, simple memories were not affected. In sum, we can confirm the beneficial effect of CBD on sleep; however, this comes with changes in …

Our brain is continuously challenged by daily experiences. Thus, how to avoid systematic erasing of previously encoded memories? While it has been proposed that a dual-learning system with ‘slow’learning in the cortex and ‘fast’learning in the hippocampus could protect previous knowledge from interference, this has never been observed in the living organism. Here, we report that increasing plasticity via the viral-induced overexpression of RGS14414 in the prelimbic cortex leads to better one-trial memory, but that this comes at the price of increased interference in semantic-like memory. Indeed, electrophysiological recordings showed that this manipulation also resulted in shorter NonREM-sleep bouts, smaller delta-waves and decreased neuronal firing rates. In contrast, hippocampal-cortical interactions in form of theta coherence during wake and REM-sleep as well as oscillatory coupling during NonREM-sleep were enhanced. Thus, we provide the first experimental evidence for the long-standing and unproven fundamental idea that high thresholds for plasticity in the cortex protect preexisting memories and modulating these thresholds affects both memory encoding and consolidation mechanisms.

Aim Evolutionary studies of oceanic island endemics are usually focused on lineages that have experienced in situ radiation, while those that speciated once on the island or archipelago but have not further diversified (single‐species endemics) remain understudied. The Macaronesian archipelagos, in the Atlantic Ocean, are home to significant numbers of single‐species endemics. The genus Hedera L. (12 species) includes three single‐species endemics from three Macaronesian archipelagos with putatively independent origins. Here, we tested the role of phylogenetic niche conservatism in their evolution. To that end, we (1) reconstructed the spatio‐temporal origin of Macaronesian ivies using phylogenomics, and (2) assessed the role of climatic niche during their colonization and speciation. Location Azores, Canary Islands, Madeira, western Mediterranean. Taxon Hedera spp. Methods We used 166 …