Alberto Martínez

Determining the intrinsic indices of sheet metals under compression states at high temperatures is vital to accurately predict the behavior of the material in warm/hot forming processes. Nevertheless, the literature contains little previous experimental data in this regard due to the difficulty of carrying out specific test methodologies in sheet metals. The authors of the present manuscript previously developed an approach to evaluate the in-plane compression behavior under a wide range of test conditions, which was applied here to characterize pure titanium and Ti6Al4V alloy until 750 °C. This procedure allowed us to quantify the asymmetric and anisotropic tension–compression (T-C) response of the materials involved and their evolution with temperature and strain rate. The asymmetry detected at room temperature showed a higher compression response in all cases, mostly reaching differences of around 10%. For the lowest strain rate studied, the typical assumed symmetric T-C behavior...

The consideration of anisotropic and asymmetric tension-compression behaviour in some materials has proved to be of great importance for the modelling of plastic behaviours that allow for accurate results in sheet metal forming analysis. However, obtaining this compression behaviour of a sheet metal in the principal plane directions is one of the most complex aspects from an experimental point of view. This complexity is notably increased when this behaviour needs to be analysed under high temperature conditions. This paper presents a compression test system with load application in the in-plane sheet directions which is characterised by a relative technical simplicity allowing its application under temperature conditions of up to 750 °C and different strain-rates. Due to the specific test conditions, namely the high temperature, it is not possible to use the common systems for measuring the strains involved and to obtain the stress-strain curve. Therefore, this paper proposes two m...

The development of a foreign body granuloma from non-absorbable suture is a relatively uncommon condition, exceptional in the retroperitoneum of patients operated on for colorectal surgery. We report the case of a patient with a history of sigmoid neoplasm showing a retroperitoneal nodule on CT and high activity on PET, mimicking a tumor implant. Pathology found a foreign body granuloma. Foreign body granuloma from suture is a condition that may look identical to tumor relapse or metastatic disease on CT and PET scans, thus requiring pathology confirmation.

The concentrations of Hg were determined in all primary flight feathers from 20 specimens of Buteo buteo and 49 specimens of Accipiter gentilis, which had died in various Wildlife Recovery Centres in Galicia (NW Spain) between 2001 and 2009. The aim of the study was to standardize the feather or feathers that should be analyzed in each species to enable inter-individual comparison of the levels of contamination, taking into consideration any variability in the concentrations of Hg caused by the birds' molting patterns. For both species the results show a high degree of both inter (e.g. an individual of A. gentilis showed 426 ng g(-1) of Hg as median and 568 ng g(-1) as median absolute deviation, MAD) and intra-individual variability (e.g. primary feather number seven - P7 - of all the A. gentilis individuals showed 537 ng g(-1) of Hg as median and 1129 ng g(-1) as MAD). Although molting did not have a clear effect on the concentrations of Hg in the flight feathers, it was possible to identify the most representative feather in each individual, taking into account the amount of metal excreted in each feather and the intra-individual variability. For B. buteo use of flight feather P6 is recommended for Hg biomonitoring studies; the amount of Hg excreted to this feather was 509 ng as median, which represents the 14% (from 10 to 20%) of the total Hg present in all the primary feathers. For A. gentilis the recommended feather is P7, which has a median of 86 ng of Hg (corresponding to 12%, and varying between 5 and 22%).

We present two novel UV–vis absorption spectroelectrochemical cells for the study of electrochemical processes at polarized liquid|liquid interfaces based on the parallel incidence of the light beam with respect to the interface. The first one is a crude design (Cell 1) based on an existing cylindrical cell for liquid|liquid electrochemistry. The second design (Cell 2) is superior and based on

This paper shows that oligomers are retained inside the polymer film during the electrosynthesis of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene), PEDOT, in aqueous media. The behavior of the electrochemically generated PEDOT film is highly dependent on the presence of these oligomers. A detailed study of the release of oligomers trapped in the PEDOT film has been carried out using bidimensional spectroelectrochemistry (BSEC), spectroelectrochemical quartz

A maximum amount of Alt a 1 was obtained after 4.5 weeks of growing, and it was found predominantly in the spent culture medium. In the same way, total IgE binding activity showed 15-fold more activity in the spent culture medium than in the buffer-extractable antigen fraction. ...

The vine (Vitis vinifera) is a cultivated plant that is found in some European and American countries. Its pollen gathers in small quantities during a short pollination period in the months of May and June. Allergy to vine pollen has not been previously documented. We sought to describe a case report of allergy to vine pollen documented on the basis of anamnesis, cutaneous, provocation, and specific IgE determination tests. An allergenic extract was obtained from collected V vinifera pollens by aqueous standard procedures. Pollen counts and pollination periods of this and other common pollens in the area where the patient became symptomatic were studied. Cutaneous tests and the presence of specific IgE to the pollen extracts were performed by prick, CAP, and RAST techniques. Bronchial and conjunctival tests with the involved pollen extracts were also carried out to identify the sensitizing allergens. Five healthy subjects and 5 pollinic patients were used as control subjects and underwent the same tests. Skin prick test responses with vine pollen at different concentrations were positive for the studied patient and negative for the control subjects. Patient serum revealed a total IgE titer of 334 IU/mL and a specific IgE value of 1.3 PRU/mL (RAST class 2) to vine pollen. Bronchial and conjunctival provocation test responses were also positive when the patient was challenged with V vinifera extract. Exposure to the pollen of the vineyard plants (V vinifera) can induce immunologic sensitization and rhinoconjunctivitis/asthma.