Articles publicats

Cardiac channelopathies in pediatrics: a genetic update

Cardiac channelopathies in pediatrics: a genetic update Martínez-Barrios, Estefanía; Campuzano Larrea, Oscar; Greco, Andrea; Cruzalegui, José; Sarquella Brugada, Georgia Cardiac channelopathies are a group of inherited syndromes that can cause malignant arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death, particularly in the pediatric population. Today, a 12-lead electrocardiogram is the most effective tool to diagnose these diseases. Incomplete penetrance and variable expressivity are hallmarks of these syndromes. Some of these malignant entities may remain hidden and only a trigger such as exercise, emotions or fever can unmask the electrical pattern to diagnose the disease. Sudden cardiac death may be the first manifestation of any of these syndromes. The use of complementary tests that allow early diagnosis is strongly recommended, among which we find: pharmacological provocations, exercise tests, and genetic analysis. Genetic testing makes it possible to unravel the origin of the disease, and also identify family members who carry the harmful genetic defect and are therefore at risk. One of the main challenges in this area is the large number of genetic variants of uncertain significance, which prevent effective translation into clinical practice. Early identification of the pediatric population at risk and adequate risk stratification are crucial to adopting personalized preventive measures that reduce the risk of lethal episodes in this population; We thank the support of ISCIII (Carlos III Health Institute) FIS PI21/0094 co-funded by the European Union and Fundació Bosch i Aymerich. CIBERCV is an initiative of the ISCIII, Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain. IDIBGI and IRSJD are a “CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya.”

A Farm-scale water balance assessment of various rice irrigation strategies using a bucket-model approach in Spain

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

A Farm-scale water balance assessment of various rice irrigation strategies using a bucket-model approach in Spain Cufí Aregay, Sílvia; Arbat Pujolràs, Gerard; Pinsach Boada, Jaume; Cuadrado-Alarcón, Blanca; Facchi, Arianna; Villar Mir, Josep Ma.; Dechmi, Farida; Ramírez de Cartagena Bisbe, Francisco Making effective decisions about scaling up on-farm irrigation practices to the district level requires a comprehensive assessment of irrigation management at the farm level. In this context, a bucket-type water mass balance model was developed, calibrated, and validated over five irrigation seasons on a 121-hectare rice farm located in the lower Ter River valley (north-east Spain), to assess the water use efficiency and the impact of different irrigation practices on water savings. The model was implemented considering the spatial variability of the soils within the farm. It showed a satisfactory performance in both the calibration (2020, 2021, 2022) and validation (2023, 2024) cropping seasons, with NSE values greater than 0.50, PBIAS lower than ±20%, and RSR lower than 0.70. After model validation, the simulation of alternative water management practices revealed that the 10-day fixed-turn irrigation reduced irrigation water use by 30% compared to the traditional water management, although it may negatively impact rice yield. Simulations of an early irrigation cut-off at the end of the season and dry seeding with delayed flooding accounted for 17% and 15% irrigation water savings, respectively. The implementation of the no-runoff practice only accounted for a 6% reduction in water use. The water-saving potential of the simulated strategies was mainly driven by shortening the flooded period of rice paddies, thus demonstrating that managing the ponding water level is critical to diminishing water use in rice irrigation; This research was carried out within the framework of MEDWATERICE and PROMEDRICE projects. Both projects are part of the PRIMA program supported by the European Union, and received funding from the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigación under grant agreements PCI2019-103738 and PCI2023-143435, respectively, as part od PRIMA program. This work was also supported by the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades of Spain through an FPU predoctoral grant, under the grant agreement FPU20/01123; 6; 9

Alternative underdrain designs for reducing pressure drop across sand media filters

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Alternative underdrain designs for reducing pressure drop across sand media filters Pujol i Sagaró, Toni; Arbat Pujolràs, Gerard; Bové Masmiquel, Josep; Puig Bargués, Jaume; Duran i Ros, Miquel; Velayos Solé, Joaquim; Ramírez de Cartagena Bisbe, Francisco Reduction of pressure drop across sand media filters – which are broadly used for preventing emitter clogging – should help reducing energy consumption in microrrigation systems. Previous research has shown that most of the pressure drop is located at sand filter underdrain. In this work, the effect of the nozzle geometry on the pressure drop of a sand filter was experimentally studied. Four nozzles were analysed: one commercially produced with a conical shape and three alternative cylindrical underdrains that were built for the experiment and that differed in the location and the number of slots. Experiments in both filtration mode and backwashing conditions for a wide range of superficial velocities were carried out at the laboratory. The results reported that a reduction of the filter energy consumption greater than 20% could be achieved by simply modifying the position of the slots above the surface of the underdrain element. The effects of the nozzle were further investigated by means of an analytical model that predicted the pressure drop of the water flow through the filter. The model confirmed that the distribution of the slots in the underdrain was a critical factor for determining the length of the region with a nonuniform flow within the sand. When using the commercial nozzle at flow rates >0.85 l/s, this region produced the major contribution to energy losses in the filter due to increases in the tortuosity of the water path within the porous medium. From these results, it is suggested that an affordable way to increase the energy efficiency of already existing installations would be to replace the current underdrain elements with new improved designs that have 40% more slots in its cylindrical surface; The authors would like to express their gratitude to the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness for their financial support for this experiment though grant AGL2015-63750-R. P. Sala, S. Saus and J. Vicens provided very helpful technical assistance; 6

Effect of sand size and inlet pressure on sand media filter performance using reclaimed effluents

Mon, 01 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Effect of sand size and inlet pressure on sand media filter performance using reclaimed effluents Duran i Ros, Miquel; Puig Bargués, Jaume; Arbat Pujolràs, Gerard; Pujol Planella, Joan; Ramírez de Cartagena Bisbe, Francisco; Pujol i Sagaró, Toni Sand media filters are specially recommended for preventing emitter clogging when irrigation water with high pollutant load is used in micro irrigation. The objective of this work was to assess those operational conditions related to media size and filter inlet pressure that could yield to a better emitter protection when wastewaters are used. So, an experiment was carried out in a micro irrigation system that had a sand media filter for filtering a reclaimed effluent. Two sand effective diameters (0.41 and 0.63 mm) and three filter inlet pressures (200, 300 and 400 kPa) were tested. Filtered volume, pressure loss across the filter, inlet pH, temperature, turbidity and electrical conductivity and outlet turbidity data were collected every minute in a supervisory control and data acquisition system. Volume used for filter backwashing was also recorded after each filtration cycle. As the reclaimed effluent was supplied by a wastewater treatment plant, there were some variations in its quality across the experiment. Greater sand size significantly (P<0.05) reduced filtered volume and turbidity removal. On the other hand, 300 kPa filter inlet pressure yielded the greatest filtered volume and the lowest backwashing water consumption. Turbidity removal was significantly higher (P<0.05) for both 300 and 400 kPa than for 200 kPa. Results suggest that sand media filter performance is optimised using sand media with an effective size of 0.41 mm and an inlet pressure of 300 kPa; 6