[en] The increasing availability of open data resources provides opportunities for research and data science. It is necessary to develope tools that take advantage of the full potential of new information resources. In this work we developed the package for R istacr that provides a collection of eurostat functions to be able to consult and discard the data that Eurostat, including functions to retrieve, download and manipulate the data set available through the ISTAC BASE API of the Canary Institute of Statistics (ISTAC). In addition, A Shiny app was designed for a responsive visulization of the data. This develope is part of the growing demand for open data and ecosystems dedicated to reproducible research in computational social science and digital humanities. With this interest, this package has been included within rOpenSpain, a project that aims to promote transparent research methods mainly through the use of free software and open data in Spain. Keywords: Economic databases; R; package; Shiny; visualization.

[en] Silicon avalanche photodiodes (APD) can be used as photodetectors in combination with scintillation crystals for the detection of radiation. These devices have the same inherent advantages as other semiconductor photodetectors, but they show significantly superior performance due to their internal gain. In particular, APD based detectors have adequate timing performance to be used in applications requiring coincidence detection, such as positron emission tomography (PET). In this work, we report on the systematic evaluation of a sample of 20 dual BGO-APD detector modules recently introduced for the PET application by RCA Electro-Optics. Results show that a typical energy resolution of the order of 20% for the 662 keV γ-ray from ¹³⁷Cs is easily achieved over a broad range of operating bias. When operated at the manufacturer's recommended bias, a typical timing resolution of the order of 15 ns FWHM (for 511 keV) is obtained in coincidence with a fast plastic detector. If the bias is increased up to the APD maximum operational gain, a timing accuracy in the range of 9 to 13 ns FWHM is consistently achieved. The performance of the detectors was correlated with the characteristics of the APDs used as photodetectors in order to improve the selection criteria of the APDs and to predict their optimal operating conditions. (orig.)

[en] Short communication

[en] Published in summary form only

[en] The authors propose a new concept of positron camera achieving nearly isotropic spatial resolution and uniform sensitivity throughout the useful field-of-view. The design is based on a quad scintillator dual channel detector module using two avalanche photodiodes as photodetectors. Original features include bilayered scintillators to measure the depth of interaction, tilted detectors relative to the radial direction to insure proper sampling in a stationary mode, multi-ring capability and independent acquisition channel for every discrete detector. Significantly better resolution is obtained towards the edges of the camera field and the sampling uniformity near the center is improved. Multi-ring systems with a slice thickness of 5 mm can be implemented to achieve true volume imaging with symmetrical 3-D spatial resolution. The performance of the proposed design is analyzed in terms of resolution, sensitivity, contrast and field uniformity

[en] The survey of 508 medical faculties in OECD Member countries showed that clinical radiobiology is not sufficiently taught during medical training in spite of the achievements of some faculties. It is necessary to bring this to the attention of universities, to step up training in this field and, above all, to promote continuous training for general practitioners. 2 tabs., 6 figs

[en] Accidents due to ionizing radiations can be nuclear accidents, concerning a large part of the population, or radiological accidents which may, at higher doses, irradiate a limited number of persons. In case of nuclear accident, radioactive rejections lead to an irradiation and/or a contamination, and induce the ''prefet'' to take public health measures. According to the dose possibly received by the population, measures can be the continuation of normal life, confinement, distribution of stable iodine, restriction of certain food consummation, evacuation being the ultimate measure. General practitioner will be an important actor in the information of the populations. When a radiological accident occurs, the management will depend on the type of accident and the dose emitted. This treatment of medico-surgical emergency is an absolute priority, if traumatic lesions are associated, on nuclear risk, especially when prognosis for life is involved. Lesions associated to radiolesions worsen the prognosis. (authors). 8 refs

[en] The enzyme 3 beta-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase/delta 5-delta 4 isomerase (3 beta-HSD) catalyzes an obligatory step in the conversion of pregnenolone and other 5-ene-3 beta-hydroxysteroids into progesterone as well as precursors of all androgens and estrogens in the ovary. Since 3 beta-HSD is likely to be an important target for regulation by pituitary hormones, we have studied the effect of chronic treatment with LH (hCG), FSH, and PRL on ovarian 3 beta-HSD expression and activity in hypophysectomized adult female rats. Human CG (hCG) [10 IU, twice a day (bid)], ovine FSH (0.5 microgram, bid), and ovine PRL (1 mg, bid) were administered, singly or in combination, for a period of 10 days starting 15 days after hypophysectomy. In hypophysectomized rats, PRL exerted a potent inhibitory effect on all the parameters studied. In fact, PRL caused a 81% decrease in ovarian 3 beta-HSD mRNA content accompanied by a similar decrease in 3 beta-HSD activity and protein levels. In addition, ovarian weight decreased by 40% whereas serum progesterone fell dramatically from 1.92 nmol/liter to undetectable levels after treatment with PRL. Whereas hCG alone had only slight stimulatory effects on 3 beta-HSD mRNA, protein content and activity levels, treatment with the gonadotropin partially or completely reversed the potent inhibitory effects of oPRL on all the parameters measured. FSH, on the other hand, had no significant effect on 3 beta-HSD expression and activity. In situ hybridization experiments using the 35S-labeled rat ovary 3 beta-HSD cDNA probe show that the inhibitory effect of PRL is exerted primarily on luteal cell 3 beta-HSD expression and activity. On the other hand, it can be seen that hCG stimulates 3 beta-HSD mRNA accumulation in interstitial cells

[en] The boundary region equations (BREs) are applied for the simulation of the nonlinear evolution of a spanwise periodic array of streaks in a flat plate boundary layer. The well-known BRE formulation is obtained from the complete Navier–Stokes equations in the high Reynolds number limit, and provides the correct asymptotic description of three-dimensional boundary layer streaks. In this paper, a fast and robust streamwise marching scheme is introduced to perform their numerical integration. Typical streak computations present in the literature correspond to linear streaks or to small-amplitude nonlinear streaks computed using direct numerical simulation (DNS) or the nonlinear parabolized stability equations (PSEs). We use the BREs to numerically compute high-amplitude streaks, a method which requires much lower computational effort than DNS and does not have the consistency and convergence problems of the PSE. It is found that the flow configuration changes substantially as the amplitude of the streaks grows and the nonlinear effects come into play. The transversal motion (in the wall normal-streamwise plane) becomes more important and strongly distorts the streamwise velocity profiles, which end up being quite different from those of the linear case. We analyze in detail the resulting flow patterns for the nonlinearly saturated streaks and compare them with available experimental results. (paper)

[en] Short communication