Sistema de Laboratorios Remoto para el estudio de la Microbiología y Parasitología Médica / Remote Laboratory System for the study of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology

Introducción: como parte del proceso de formación de enfermeros, médicos y tecnólogos de la salud son habilitados temas relacionados con la microbiología. Sin embargo, a partir del conjunto de medidas de seguridad y la disponibilidad de recursos físicos, no es posible el estudio de diversos microorganismos. Objetivo: desarrollar un Sistema de Laboratorios Remoto para la práctica de Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Materiales y métodos: el sistema de Laboratorios Remoto posee un microscopio electrónico controlado mediante una interface de comunicación con un ordenador conectado a la red. Resultados: se obtuvo como resultado un Sistema de Laboratorios Remoto que puede ser accedido mediante Internet o la red institucional. Facilita el estudio y la interpretación de diferentes muestras biológicas. Brinda un conjunto de reportes y estadísticas que permiten realizar análisis históricos de comportamiento. Conclusiones: a partir del desarrollo de las prácticas de laboratorios a distancia, es posible el estudio de diferentes microorganismos sin riesgos biológicos para el estudiante(AU)

Introduction: as part of the training process for nurses, physicians and health technologists, topics related to microbiology are enabled. However, based on the set of security measures and the availability of physical resources, the study of various microorganisms is not possible. Objective: to develop a Remote Laboratory System for the practice of the subject Medical Microbiology and Parasitology. Methods: the Remote Laboratory System has an electronic microscope controlled by a communication interface with a computer connected to the network. Results: a Remote Laboratory System that can be accessed through the Internet or the institutional network. The system facilitates the study and interpretation of different biological samples and also provides a set of reports and statistics that allow for historical behavior analysis. Conclusions: from the development of remote laboratory practices, it is possible to study different microorganisms without biological risks for the student(AU)

Sistema de apoyo al diagnóstico médico de COVID-19 mediante mapa cognitivo difuso / Support system to Covid-19 medical diagnosis via diffuse cognitive map

Introducción: Los escenarios de convivencia de las diversas poblaciones son muy complejos, lo que contribuye con la propagación de enfermedades. Diagnosticar tempranamente enfermedades infecciosas representa una tarea fundamental para disminuir su propagación y evitar epidemias. Sin embargo, la inconsistencia en los datos de poblaciones y la imposibilidad de contar con un diagnóstico oportuno en muchos casos trae como consecuencia la proliferación de pandemias tales como la COVID-19. Objetivo: Desarrollar un sistema de apoyo al diagnóstico médico para COVID-19 a partir de la modelación de las relaciones causales de los criterios de diagnóstico, para conformar el mapa cognitivo difuso. Métodos: Para el desarrollo de la investigación se utilizaron métodos teóricos, empíricos y estadísticos, tales como: analítico-sintético, inductivo-deductivo, hipotético-deductivo, modelación. Como método empírico se utilizó la entrevista semiestructurada con la intención de recoger información que permitiera incluir contenidos no prescritos y precisar el conocimiento de los expertos sobre los principales indicadores para la toma de decisiones en el diagnóstico médico de la COVID-19. Resultados: El sistema funciona a través de un mapa cognitivo difuso para modelar las relaciones causales que representan la base de la inferencia. Se utilizan técnicas de inteligencia artificial como base al diagnóstico médico. Se presenta un ejemplo demostrativo para el diagnóstico médico de la COVID-19 en el que se modelan las relaciones causales de los diferentes conceptos que describen la enfermedad provocada. Conclusiones: El sistema diseñado constituye una herramienta viable de apoyo a la toma de decisiones en el diagnóstico médico de la COVID-19, que permite obtener criterios evaluativos a partir de la modelación de las relaciones causales, esto lo hace extensible a otros tipos de situaciones de emergencias sanitarias(AU)

Introduction: Different populations coexistence scenarios are very complex, which contributes to the spread of diseases. Diagnosing infectious diseases early is a critical task in reducing its spread and preventing epidemics. However, inconsistency in population data and the inability to have timely diagnosis in many cases result in the proliferation of pandemics such as COVID-19. Objective: Develop a support system for COVID-19 medical diagnostic from modeling causal relations of diagnostic criteria, to form the diffuse cognitive map. Methods: Theoretical, empirical and statistical methods were used for the development of the research, such as: analytical-synthetic, inductive-deductive, hypothetical-deductive, modeling. As an empirical method, the semi-structured interview was used with the intention of collecting information that would include unprescribed contents and require expert knowledge of the main indicators for decision-making in COVID-19 medical diagnosis. Results: The system works through a diffuse cognitive map to model causal relationships that represent the inference´s basis. Artificial intelligence techniques are used as a basis for medical diagnosis. A demonstrative example is presented for COVID-19 medical diagnosis in which are modelled the causal relations of the different concepts that the disease describes. Conclusions: The designed system is a viable support tool for decision-making in COVID-19 medical diagnosis, which allows to obtain evaluative criteria from the modelling of causal relations, and this makes it extendable to other types of health emergencies situations(AU)

Erol Basar and the scientific revolution in nonlinear brain dynamics: A selective review.

Erol Basar was one of the most significant neuroscientists of the past century. Two main threads of thought guided Basar's scientific labor: i) the study of brain oscillations and ii) its marriage to basic principles of physics. These two threads provided him with the crucial element to introduce nonlinear random theory into brain research. Until the decade of the seventies, the underling paradigm in studying the electrical activity of the brain was dominated by a simplistic linear systems model that entailed absolute separation between a determinist evoked responses to stimuli and a superimposed background electrical activity considered as "noise". Basar questioned this simplistic linear model and its interpretation. Basar underscored the nonlinear dynamics of the brain, demonstrated for the first time the interaction between evoked and background activity, and widened the study of event-related activity from the time domain to the frequency and time-frequency domain, heralding a new understanding of the event-related dynamics. These advances were a consequence of Basar's fascination with the physics and mathematics of dynamical physical systems which he rightly believed to be the key to understanding the brain. Here we carry out a selected review, based on a scientometric analysis of Basar's scientific trajectory in the field of Brain Dynamics as embodied in 278 peer-reviewed papers. We also report the geographical distribution of Basar's collaborators, distribution of his citations, and his interaction with many international groups. This analysis illustrates the importance of his innovative contributions and the impact it had on our field. It underscores that he is one of the initiators of a "scientific revolution" in neurophysiology: from linear systems to random non-linear systems analysis and the new vision of the brain as a dynamical system.

The interplay between dynamic heterogeneities and structure of bulk liquid water: A molecular dynamics simulation study.

In order to study the interplay between dynamical heterogeneities and structural properties of bulk liquid water in the temperature range 130-350 K, thus including the supercooled regime, we use the explicit trend of the distribution functions of some molecular properties, namely, the rotational relaxation constants, the atomic mean-square displacements, the relaxation of the cross correlation functions between the linear and squared displacements of H and O atoms of each molecule, the tetrahedral order parameter q and, finally, the number of nearest neighbors (NNs) and of hydrogen bonds (HBs) per molecule. Two different potentials are considered: TIP4P-Ew and a model developed in this laboratory for the study of nanoconfined water. The results are similar for the dynamical properties, but are markedly different for the structural characteristics. In particular, for temperatures higher than that of the dynamic crossover between "fragile" (at higher temperatures) and "strong" (at lower temperatures) liquid behaviors detected around 207 K, the rotational relaxation of supercooled water appears to be remarkably homogeneous. However, the structural parameters (number of NNs and of HBs, as well as q) do not show homogeneous distributions, and these distributions are different for the two water models. Another dynamic crossover between "fragile" (at lower temperatures) and "strong" (at higher temperatures) liquid behaviors, corresponding to the one found experimentally at T(∗) ∼ 315 ± 5 K, was spotted at T(∗) ∼ 283 K and T(∗) ∼ 276 K for the TIP4P-Ew and the model developed in this laboratory, respectively. It was detected from the trend of Arrhenius plots of dynamic quantities and from the onset of a further heterogeneity in the rotational relaxation. To our best knowledge, it is the first time that this dynamical crossover is detected in computer simulations of bulk water. On the basis of the simulation results, the possible mechanisms of the two crossovers at molecular level are discussed.

Dynamical properties of confined water nanoclusters: Simulation study of hydrated zeolite NaA: structural and vibrational properties.

Water nanoclusters confined to zeolitic cavities have been extensively investigated by various experimental techniques. We report a series of molecular dynamics simulations at different temperatures and for water nanoclusters of different sizes in order to attempt an atomistic interpretation of the properties of these systems. The cavities of zeolite NaA are spherical in shape and about 1 nm in diameter and can host nanoclusters of water containing nearly up to 24 water molecules. A modified interaction potential, yielding a better reproduction of experimental hydration energy and water diffusivity across a number of different zeolites, is proposed. Molecular dynamics simulations reproduce the known experimental structural features obtained by X-ray diffraction. Variations of simulated vibrational IR and IINS spectra with temperature and size of nanoclusters are in good agreement with experiment. The simulated water nanoclusters in zeolite NaA are found to be too small to crystallize and, at low temperature, behave as amorphous ice, in agreement with recent experimental results for similar water nanoclusters in reverse micelles.

Molecular dynamics simulation study of superhydrated perdeuterated natrolite using a new interaction potential model.

To test a new interaction potential, molecular dynamics simulations of zeolite natrolite were performed for the structures under ambient conditions hydrated by perdeuterated water and at high pressure (1.87 GPa) in the superhydrated phase, which were recently studied by neutron diffraction. The experimental structures were reproduced with reasonable accuracy, and the hydrogen bond features are discussed. As in ordinary natrolite, a flip motion of water molecules around the HOH bisector is found, which, together with translational oscillations, gives rise to transient hydrogen bonds between water molecules, which do not appear from experimental equilibrium coordinates. The dynamics of water molecules can explain some problems encountered in refining the experimental structure. Vibrational spectra of natrolite containing perdeuterated water, which are not yet measured, were simulated, and their qualitative trend is discussed.