Claves educativas para responder a los actuales retos de Europa

La política educativa de la Unión Europea en los últimos veinte años ha buscado dos objetivos centrales: forjar en los ciudadanos la conciencia europea y capacitarlos para hacer de Europa la economía basada en el conocimiento más dinámica y competitiva del mundo. La educación se concibe como el instrumento más eficaz para enfrentarse a los retos actuales de Europa en un contexto de globalización y crisis económica. Se necesita, pues, plantear la orientación adecuada a la educación europea en estos momentos de encrucijada. La hipótesis de este artículo es que la política educativa planteada a nivel europeo no responde con rigor y profundidad a los retos actuales de Europa pues se supedita predominantemente a un objetivo económico de progreso y crecimiento y a la formación profesional sin proponer una formación integral en clave ética que logre paliar las profundas fallas morales de la actual situación de crisis que tienen en el nihilismo y el relativismo moral su caldo de cultivo

Does aquatic exercise improve commonly reported predisposing risk factors to falls within the elderly? A systematic review

Background According to the World Health Organization, the elderly are at the highest risk of injury or death from a fall. Age-related changes in strength, balance and flexibility are degenerative factors that may increase the risk of falling, and an aquatic training may offer a favourable environment to improve these modifiable risk factors. Methods A systematic review was conducted to assess the potential preventative role of aquatic exercise for reducing the risk of falls in the elderly by improving predisposing risk factors. Electronic databases and reference lists of pertinent articles published between 2005 and 2018 were searched. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that directly or indirectly addressed the effect of aquatic exercise for the prevention of falls in healthy participants were included within the synthesis. Studies were included if they were reported between January 2005 and May 2018 within a population aged between 60 and 90 years old that were without exercise-effecting comorbidities. Data related to participant demographics, study design, methodology, interventions and outcomes was extracted by one reviewer. Methodological quality assessment was independently performed by two reviewers using the PEDro (Physiotherapy Evidence Database) scale. Results Fourteen trials met the inclusion criteria. Exercise intervention duration and frequency varied from 2 to 24 weeks, from 2 to 3 times per week, from 40 to 90 min per session. Fall rate was not reported in any of the studies analysed. However, aquatic exercise improved key predisposing physical fitness components that are modifiable and internal risk factors for falling. Conclusions There is limited, low-quality evidence to support the use of aquatic exercise for improving physiological components that are risk factors for falling. Although the evidence is limited, and many interventions are not well described, these results should be considered by health and exercise professionals when making evidence-based, clinical decisions regarding training programmes to reduce the risk of falling

Protective role of mindfulness, self-compassion and psychological flexibility on the burnout subtypes among psychology and nursing undergraduate students

Aims: To explore the relationship between mindfulness, self-compassion and psychological flexibility, and the burnout subtypes in university students of the Psychology and Nursing degrees, and to analyse possible risk factors for developing burnout among socio-demographic and studies-related characteristics. Design: Cross-sectional study conducted on a sample of 644 undergraduate students of Nursing and Psychology from two Spanish universities. Methods: The study was conducted between December 2015 and May 2016. Bivariate Pearson''s correlations were computed to analyse the association between mindfulness facets, self-compassion and psychological flexibility, and levels of burnout. Multivariate linear regression models and bivariate and multivariate binary logistic regressions were also computed. Results: The three subtypes of burnout presented significant correlations with psychological flexibility, self-compassion and some mindfulness facets. Psychological flexibility, self-compassion and the mindfulness facets of observing and acting with awareness were significantly associated to burnout. Among the risk factors, ‘year of study’ was the only variable to show significantly higher risk for every burnout subtype. Conclusion: The significant associations found between mindfulness, self-compassion, psychological flexibility and burnout levels underline the need of including these variables as therapeutic targets when addressing the burnout syndrome in university students. Impact. Undergraduate students, especially those of health sciences, often experience burnout. This study delves into the protective role of some psychological variables: mindfulness, self-compassion and psychological flexibility. These should be considered as potentially protective skills for developing burnout, and therefore, undergraduate students could be trained on these abilities to face their studies and their future profession to prevent experiencing burnout syndrome. © 2021 John Wiley & Sons Lt

Quality Parameters, Volatile Composition, and Sensory Profiles of Highly Endangered Spanish Citrus Fruits

There is very little information available on the chemical composition and the quality attributes of the citrus species studied which are truly endangered in Spain. None of the fruits studied is available for commercial purposes, which is the main interest and novelty of this study. The aim of this work was to fully describe the morphology, volatile composition, and sensory profile of traditional citrus fruits: sour lime (SoLi), sweet lime (SwLi), and sweet lemon (SwLe), to have the information to convince farmers and growers to cultivate these fruits again. The predominant sugar was fructose while citric acid prevails in SoLi and SwLe. Regarding volatiles compounds, monoterpenes, monoterpenoids, and esters predominated in the juices, and these three families plus sesquiterpenes in the peels. The juice of SoLi presented the highest content of esters (14.8%), SwLi juice presented similar values of both monoterpenes and monoterpenoids (46.1 and 46.0%, resp.), and SwLe juice had the highest content of monoterpenes (72.2%). The results demonstrated the high potential of these citrus materials for the agrofood industry. Therefore, it will be possible to recover these vegetal materials at risk of disappearing for potential uses by the food industry and simultaneously help maintaining the biodiversity

Seismic structure and composition of the southern central Iberian crust: The ALCUDIA wide angle seismic reflection transect

The authors thank the Associated Editor and the anonymous reviewers for their thoroughly valuable suggestions and comments that improved the manuscript. Seismic data were collected in 2012 with funding provided by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (grants: CGL2004-04623/BTE, CGL2007-63101/BTE, CGL2011-24101, CSD2006-00041). Instrumentation was provided by the IRIS-PASSCAL instrument center, Socorro, New Mexico, USA. The seismic data, including experiment geometry are stored in the IRIS-PASSCAL facilities and can be accessed through the IRIS-PASSCAL data management center. I.P. is funded by the Spanish Government and the Universidad de Salamanca with a Beatriz Galindo grant (BEGAL 18/00090). S.A. Ehsan is funded by the European Commission grant Marie Curie Actions (264517-TOPOMOD-FP7-PEOPLE-2010-ITN). We thank Instituto Geologico y Minero de Espana for providing the logistic help and an academic crew for data acquisition. GMT was used to prepare some of the figures shown in the paper.The nature of the crust beneath central Iberia was estimated by a wide-angle seismic reflection/refraction transect, ALCUDIA-WA, which sampled the southern half of the Variscan Central Iberian Zone, covered in the north by the Cenozoic Tajo Basin. The shot gathers recorded by vertical component sensors revealed well defined P- and S-wave phases. These arrivals were modeled by an iterative forward approach providing 2D crustal models showing variations in the velocity distribution with upper crustal P- and S-wave velocities increasing northwards. The lower crust P-wave velocities are homogeneous along the profile while the S-wave velocities slightly increase northwards. The Moho is placed at 32 km depth in the southern edge of the profile, deepening northward down to 35 km beneath the Tajo Basin. The Poisson's ratio, calculated from P- and S-wave velocities, varies along the profile at upper crustal depths. The highest values are located below the Mora and Pedroches batholiths. These resulting physical properties can serve to constrain the crustal composition by comparing them with laboratory measurements on rock samples. Our results suggest that the upper crust in the southern and central segments of the ALCUDIA profile is made up of low-grade metasedimentary rocks, while the northern segment is dominated by igneous rocks, in agreement with the surface geology. Separated by a sharp boundary located between 12 km (south) and 18 km (north) depth, the lower crust is more homogeneous and shows low Poisson’ ratios compatible with a rather felsic composition. However, outstanding lamination described in coincident vertical incidence data indicates some degree of intercalation with mafic components.Spanish Government CGL2004-04623/BTE CGL2007-63101/BTE CGL2011-24101 CSD2006-00041Spanish GovernmentEuropean Commission BEGAL 18/00090Universidad de Salamanca BEGAL 18/00090European Commission grant Marie Curie Actions 264517-TOPOMOD-FP7-PEOPLE-2010-IT

Role of RNA silencing in plant-viroid interactions and in viroid pathogenesis

[EN] Viroids are small, single-stranded, non-protein coding and circular RNAs able to infect host plants in the absence of any helper virus. They may elicit symptoms in their hosts, but the underlying molecular pathways are only partially known. Here we address the role of post-transcriptional RNA silencing in plant-viroid-interplay, with major emphasis on the involvement of this sequence-specific RNA degradation mechanism in both plant antiviroid defence and viroid pathogenesis. This review is a tribute to the memory of Dr. Ricardo Flores, who largely contributed to elucidate this and other molecular mechanisms involved in plant-viroid interactions.The authors of this manuscript, former PhD students, post-doctoral fellows and colleagues of Dr. Ricardo Flores, would like to dedicate this review to his memory. Among many other achievement during his scientific career, Ricardo was responsible for major advances in efforts to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying viroid pathogenesis. An exemplary and dedicated scientist, excellent mentor, and a treasured friend, Ricardo will be deeply missed.Di Serio, F.; Owens, RA.; Navarro, B.; Serra, P.; Martínez De Alba, AE.; Delgado Villar, SG.; Carbonell, A.... (2023). Role of RNA silencing in plant-viroid interactions and in viroid pathogenesis. Virus Research. 323:1-6. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2022.1989641632

Reflection Seismic Imaging for Mineral Exploration in the Sotiel-Coronada Area, Southwest Spain

Near Surface Geoscience Conference & Exhibition Online 2020This work explores the first results of the seismic data acquired in the Sotiel-Coronada mine as part of the SIT4ME (Seismic Imaging Techniques for Mineral Exploration) project. In this experiment, a multi-source seismic data-set was acquired at the end of 2018 in the Sotiel- Coronada area of the Iberian Pyrite Belt (IPB) (southwest Spain). In the seismic experiment presented, 653 seismic receivers were deployed distributed in a pseudo 3D grid and six crooked lines across the study area. The sensors recorded c. 900 vibration points produced by a 32 Tn vibrotruck. Here, we present the stack results of the 2D seismic sections. Data from over 100 wells have been incorporating to aid in the structural interpretation. The preliminary interpretation reveals the complexity of this highly faulted ore-bearing area. Correlations between well log data information and 2D seismic profiles, suggest the location of a potentially mineralized area. The SIT4ME project has been funded by EIT Raw Materials (17024)

Saving irrigation water as a tool to increase pomegranate fruit price and enhance the bioactive compound content

The non-climateric character of pomegranate (P. granatum) fruit underlines the importance of determining the optimum harvest time to improve fruit quality. The effect of irrigation withholding during 6, 15, 25 and 36 d before harvest was evaluated in order to clarify whether fruit ripening is critical or non-critical from the yield, fruit characteristics and composition point of view. The results indicated that this phenological period is critical because irrigation is essential during most of this phenological period to achieve maximum yield. However, a 6 d of irrigation restriction at the end of ripening period can be used as a tool to come early harvest time, saves irrigation water, enhances the bioactive compounds (anthocyanins, phenolic compounds, punicalagin and ellagic acid) and increases the price of the fruit without affecting marketable yield and fruit size

Postcranial morphology of the middle Pleistocene humans from Sima de los Huesos, Spain

Current knowledge of the evolution of the postcranial skeleton in the genus Homo is hampered by a geographically and chronologically scattered fossil record. Here we present a complete characterization of the postcranium of the middle Pleistocene paleodeme from the Sima de los Huesos (SH) and its paleobiological implications. The SH hominins show the following: (i) wide bodies, a plesiomorphic char- acter in the genus Homo inherited from their early hominin ancestors; (ii) statures that can be found in modern human middle-latitude pop- ulations that first appeared 1.6–1.5 Mya; and (iii) large femoral heads in some individuals, a trait that first appeared during the middle Pleistocene in Africa and Europe. The intrapopulational size variation in SH shows that the level of dimorphism was similar to modern humans (MH), but the SH hominins were less encephalized than Ne- andertals. SH shares many postcranial anatomical features with Ne- andertals. Although most of these features appear to be either plesiomorphic retentions or are of uncertain phylogenetic polarity, a few represent Neandertal apomorphies. Nevertheless, the full suite of Neandertal-derived features is not yet present in the SH popula- tion. The postcranial evidence is consistent with the hypothesis based on the cranial morphology that the SH hominins are a sister group to the later Neandertals. Comparison of the SH postcranial skeleton to other hominins suggests that the evolution of the postcranium oc- curred in a mosaic mode, both at a general and at a detailed level