Plan de Acción Tutorial en la Escuela Universitaria de Informática de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Aquest article presenta un model d’acció tutorial desenvolupat sobre estratègies d’acompanyament a l’estudiant basades en “coaching” i intel•ligència emocional, i un model experimental de tutories per parells de tutors en els que es celebren sessions conjuntes per tractar problemes comuns i compartir experiències dels tutelats. Els resultats obtinguts d’integració i eficiència en el procés d’ensenyança aprenentatge dels tutelats en aquest model inviten a estendre l’experiència a un grup de tutors major per després generalitzar-lo.This paper presents a tutorial action model oriented to help students through both the development of some new strategies based on coaching and “emotional intelligence”, and the use of an experimental model of tutoring by pairs of tutors. Joint meetings of the students of both tutors are conducted, to deal with common problems and share students’ experiences. The results obtained from this integration and the efficiency in the learning process of the tutored students in this model, invite us to extend the experience to a larger group of tutors, and then try to generalize it.Este artículo presenta un modelo de acción tutorial desarrollado sobre estrategias de acompañamiento al estudiante basadas en “coaching” e inteligencia emocional, y un modelo experimental de tutorías por pares de tutores en los que se celebran sesiones conjuntas para tratar problemas comunes y compartir experiencias de los tutelados. Los resultados obtenidos de integración y eficiencia en el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de los tutelados en este modelo invitan a extender la experiencia a un grupo de tutores mayor para después generalizarlo

Role of Tetraspanins CD9 and CD151 in Primary Melanocyte Motility

Tetraspanins CD9 and CD151 have been implicated in cellular motility and intercellular adhesion in several cellular types. Here, we have studied the subcellular localization and the functional role of these molecules in primary melanocytes. We found that endogenous tetraspanins preferentially clustered in areas of melanocyte homotypic intercellular contacts and at the tips of dendrites. These observations were further confirmed using time-lapse fluorescence confocal microscopy of melanocytes transfected with CD9– and CD151–GFP (green fluorescent protein) constructs, suggesting an involvement of these proteins in cellular contacts and migration. Cell adhesion and migration assays performed using blocking monoclonal antibodies against CD9 and CD151 showed no significant effect on cell–extracellular matrix adhesion, whereas the migration of melanocytes was significantly enhanced. The regulation of the migratory capacity of melanocytes by CD9 and CD151 was further confirmed knocking down the endogenous expression of these tetraspanins with small interference RNA oligonucleotides. Therefore, tetraspanin molecules are localized at motile structures in primary human melanocytes regulating the migratory capacity of these cells

Plan de Acción Tutorial en la Escuela Universitaria de Informática de la Universidad Politécnica de Madrid

Aquest article presenta un model d’acció tutorial desenvolupat sobre estratègies d’acompanyament a l’estudiant basades en “coaching” i intel•ligència emocional, i un model experimental de tutories per parells de tutors en els que es celebren sessions conjuntes per tractar problemes comuns i compartir experiències dels tutelats. Els resultats obtinguts d’integració i eficiència en el procés d’ensenyança aprenentatge dels tutelats en aquest model inviten a estendre l’experiència a un grup de tutors major per després generalitzar-lo.This paper presents a tutorial action model oriented to help students through both the development of some new strategies based on coaching and “emotional intelligence”, and the use of an experimental model of tutoring by pairs of tutors. Joint meetings of the students of both tutors are conducted, to deal with common problems and share students’ experiences. The results obtained from this integration and the efficiency in the learning process of the tutored students in this model, invite us to extend the experience to a larger group of tutors, and then try to generalize it.Este artículo presenta un modelo de acción tutorial desarrollado sobre estrategias de acompañamiento al estudiante basadas en “coaching” e inteligencia emocional, y un modelo experimental de tutorías por pares de tutores en los que se celebran sesiones conjuntas para tratar problemas comunes y compartir experiencias de los tutelados. Los resultados obtenidos de integración y eficiencia en el proceso de enseñanza aprendizaje de los tutelados en este modelo invitan a extender la experiencia a un grupo de tutores mayor para después generalizarlo

Helical peptides from VEGF and Vammin hotspots for modulating the VEGF-VEGFR interaction

The design, synthesis, conformational studies and binding affinity for VEGF receptors of a collection of linear and cyclic peptide analogues of the N-terminal α-helix fragments 13-25 of VEGF and 1-13 of Vammin are described. Linear 13(14)-mer peptides were designed with the help of an AGADIR algorithm and prepared following peptide solid-phase synthetic protocols. Cyclic peptide derivatives were prepared on-resin from linear precursors with conveniently located Glu and Lys residues, by the formation of amide linkages. Conformational analysis, CD and NMR, showed that most synthesized peptides have a clear tendency to be structured as α-helices in solution. Some of the peptides were able to bind a VEGFR-1 receptor with moderate affinity. In addition to the described key residues (Phe17, Tyr21 and Tyr25), Val14 and Val20 seem to be relevant for affinity.Peer Reviewe

Propuesta para la Reestructuración Funcional de la Figura del Coordinador de Virtualización en la UNED

El sistema organizativo académico de la Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) está integrado por docentes en la Sede Central y profesores tutores en los Centros Asociados repartidos por el territorio español. A partir del nuevo panorama educativo en la enseñanza universitaria europea (Espacio Europeo de Enseñanza Superior, -EEES), la UNED se fue adaptando y situándose en un escenario moderno e innovador, iniciándose la mejora y homogeneización de los servicios que reciben los estudiantes mediante los cursos virtuales. En este contexto, se precisó la formación a profesores tutores y a estudiantes en la utilización de los cursos virtuales de la universidad, surgiendo así el rol del Coordinador de Virtualización (CV). En la actualidad hay 62 coordinadores (uno por cada centro asociado). Tras la implantación de las nuevas titulaciones dentro del marco del EEES y, una vez consolidada esta figura en la institución, se ha hecho necesario ofrecer una nueva organización en las funciones y tareas que los CV han de ejercer. Este trabajo describe la nueva propuesta organizativa diseñada para su aplicación a partir del próximo curso 2014-2015, y para cuya elaboración se han seguido los siguientes pasos: identificación del tipo de tareas a desarrollar (apoyo tecnológico a estudiantes y asesoramiento a profesores tutores), establecimiento de los contextos de trabajo (presencial y virtual), y clasificación por categorías para permitir una asignación de actividades básicas a todos los CV y de actividades más especializadas entre subgrupos de CV. Palabras llave: Aprendizaje semipresencial; Formación de profesorado; Competencias tecnológicas; Habilidades digitales. Virtualization Coordinator: Trainer of Tutor-Professors and Support for Students in the UNED Associate CenterAbstract The academic organizational structure of the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED) is composed of professors at Central Headquarters and tutor-professors at the Associate Centers spread across the Spanish territory. From the new educational landscape in European university education (European Higher Education Area - EHEA), UNED was adapting and placing itself in a modern and innovative stage, beginning with the improvement and standardization of services provided to students through the online courses. In this context, training for both tutor-professors and students in the use of online courses was required, and that´s how the role of Virtualization Coordinator (VC) emerged. At present time, there are 66 VCs (one for each Associate Center). After implementation of the new qualifications within the framework of the EHEA and once established this role in the institution, it is necessary to provide a new organization in the functions and tasks that have to exercise VC. This paper describes a new organizational proposal designed for use from next year 2014-2015, and to whose development we have followed the following steps: identification of the type of tasks to be performed (technical support to students and advice to tutor-professors), establishment of working contexts (presential and virtual), and categorization to allow distribution of basic activities among all the VC, and more specialized activities among subgroups of VC.Keywords: Blended learning; Teachers training; Technological competences; Digital skills

Conformationally restricted PACAP27 analogues incorporating type II/II′ IBTM β-Turn mimetics. Synthesis, NMR structure determination, and binding affinity

To probe the importance of a proposed β-turn within residues S9-R12 of PACAP for recognition by VIP/PACAP receptors, compounds 1 and 2, two conformationally restricted analogues of PACAP27 incorporating respectively (S)- or (R)-IBTM as type II or II′ β-turn dipeptide mimetic at the Y10-S11 position, were synthesized. According to 1H NMR conformational analyses in aqueous solution and 30% TFE, both PACAP27 and the [S-IBTM10,11]PACAP27 analogue 1 adopt similar ordered structures. PACAP27 shows an N-terminal disordered region (residues H1-F6) and an α-helical conformation within segment T7–L27. For residues S9–R12, our data seem more compatible with a segment of the α-helix than with the β-turn previously proposed for this fragment. In compound 1 the α-helix, also spanning T7–L27 residues, appears slightly distorted at the N-terminus relative to the native peptide. Although this distortion could lead to the marked decrease in binding affinity of this compound at the VIP/PACAP receptors, the lack of the Y10 side chain in analogues 1 and 2 could also significantly affect the binding of these compounds.Work at the Instituto de Quı́mica Médica and Universidad de Navarra was supported by CICYT (SAF 97 0030 and SAF 2000-0147), Fundación La Caixa (97/022) and Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid (08.5/0006/1998). Work at the Instituto de Estructura de la Materia was supported by DGICYT (PB98-0677) and the European Union (CEE B104-97-2086). Work at the Universidad de Barcelona was supported by Generalitat de Catalunya (CERBA). C.M.S. and M.M.-M. are recipients of a pre-doctoral and a post-doctoral fellowship, respectively, from the Comunidad Autónoma de Madrid, Spain. E.de O. is a post-doctoral fellow of Fundació Bosch i Gimpera, Universitat de Barcelona, Spain

The Secretion of miR-200s by a PKCζ/ADAR2 Signaling Axis Promotes Liver Metastasis in Colorectal Cancer

Most colorectal cancer (CRC)-related deaths are due to liver metastases. PKCζ is a tumor suppressor in CRC with reduced expression in metastasis. Given the importance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in regulating cellular plasticity, we performed an unbiased screening and identified the miR-200 family as the most relevant miRNAs downregulated by PKCζ deficiency. The regulation of the intracellular levels of miR-200 by PKCζ is post-transcriptional and involves their secretion in extracellular vesicles. Here, we identified ADAR2 as a direct substrate of PKCζ in CRC cells. Phosphorylation of ADAR2 regulates its editing activity, which is required to maintain miR-200 steady-state levels, suggesting that the PKCζ/ADAR2 axis regulates miR-200 secretion through RNA editing. Loss of this axis results in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and increased liver metastases, which can be inhibited in vivo by blocking miR-200 release. Therefore, the PKCζ/ADAR2 axis is a critical regulator of CRC metastases through modulation of miR-200 levels.Research was supported by grants from the NIH ( R01DK108743 , R01CA172025 , and R01CA207177 to J.M.; R01CA192642 and R01CA218254 to M.T.D.-M.)

The O3N2 and N2 abundance indicators revisited: improved calibrations based on CALIFA and T e-based literature data

Astronomy and Astrophysics 559 (2013): A114 reproduced with permission from Astronomy and AstrophysicsThe use of integral field spectroscopy is since recently allowing to measure the emission line fluxes of an increasingly large number of star-forming galaxies, both locally and at high redshift. Many studies have used these fluxes to derive the gas-phase metallicity of the galaxies by applying the so-called strong-line methods. However, the metallicity indicators that these datasets use were empirically calibrated using few direct abundance data points (Te-based measurements). Furthermore, a precise determination of the prediction intervals of these indicators is commonly lacking in these calibrations. Such limitations might lead to systematic errors in determining the gas-phase metallicity, especially at high redshift, which might have a strong impact on our understanding of the chemical evolution of the Universe. The main goal of this study is to review the most widely used empirical oxygen calibrations, O3N2 and N2, by using newdirect abundance measurements. We pay special attention to (1) the expected uncertainty of these calibrations as a function of the index value or abundance derived and (2) the presence of possible systematic offsets. This is possible thanks to the analysis of the most ambitious compilation of Te-based H ii regions to date. This new dataset compiles the Te-based abundances of 603 H ii regions extracted from the literature but also includes new measurements from the CALIFA survey. Besides providing new and improved empirical calibrations for the gas abundance, we also present a comparison between our revisited calibrations with a total of 3423 additional CALIFA H ii complexes with abundances derived using the ONS calibration from the literature. The combined analysis of T e-based and ONS abundances allows us to derive their most accurate calibration to date for both the O3N2 and N2 single-ratio indicators, in terms of all statistical significance, quality, and coverage of the parameters space. In particular, we infer that these indicators show shallower abundance dependencies and statistically significant offsets compared to others'. The O3N2 and N2 indicators can be empirically applied to derive oxygen abundances calibrations from either direct abundance determinations with random errors of 0.18 and 0.16, respectively, or from indirect ones (but based on a large amount of data), reaching an average precision of 0.08 and 0.09 dex (random) and 0.02 and 0.08 dex (systematic; compared to the direct estimations), respectivelyR.A. Marino is funded by the Spanish program of International Campus of Excellence Moncloa (CEI). D. Mast thank the Plan Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo funding programs, AYA2012-31935 of the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, for the support given to this project. S.F.S thanks the the Ramón y Cajal project RyC-2011-07590 of the spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad, for the support giving to this project. F.F.R.O. acknowledges the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) for financial support under the program Estancias Postdoctorales y Sabáticas al Extranjero para la Consolidación de Grupos de Investigación, 2010-2012. We acknowledge financial support for the ESTALLIDOS collaboration by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under grant AYA2010- 21887-C04-03. BG-L also acknowledges support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant AYA2012- 39408-C02-02. J.F.-B. acknowledges financial support from the Ramón y Cajal Program and grant AYA2010-21322-C03-02 from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), as well as to the DAGAL network from the People’s Program (Marie Curie Actions) of the European Union’s Seventh Framework Program FP7/2007-2013/ under REA grant agreement number PITN-GA-2011-289313. CK has been funded by project AYA2010-21887 from the Spanish PNAYA. P.P. acknowledges support by the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under project FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-029170 (Reference FCT PTDC/FIS-AST/3214/2012), funded by FCT-MEC (PIDDAC) and FEDER (COMPETE). R.M.G.D. and R.G.B. also acknowledge support from the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO) under grant AyA2010-15081. V.S., L.G., and A.M.M. acknowledge financial support from the Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (FCT) under program Ciência 2008 and the research grant PTDC/CTE-AST/112582/200

Consensus on health assistance for smoking control in Spain

Tras la aprobación de la Ley 28/2005, de medidas sanitarias frente al tabaquismo y reguladora de la venta, el suministro, el consumo y la publicidad de los productos del tabaco, se están produciendo diversos desarrollos y progresos en el campo del tratamiento del tabaquismo en todas las Comunidades Autónomas. Por este motivo y por los propios requerimientos de la Ley, tanto las administraciones públicas como las sociedades científicas integradas en el Comité Nacional de Prevención del Tabaquismo CNPT, han considerado que nuestro país se halla en una posición óptima para revisar los avances conseguidos hasta el momento y señalar las bases de carácter técnico que, de acuerdo a la evidencia y los recursos disponibles, sería conveniente que pudieran orientar las actuaciones de asistencia a las personas que fuman en el Marco del Sistema Nacional de Salud. La finalidad de este documento, de carácter exclusivamente técnico y científico, ha sido consensuar una propuesta básica de calidad sobre asistencia en tabaquismo que sirva como guía orientativa en nuestro país. Los objetivos de este documento son analizar las necesidades a las que responde una estrategia asistencial en tabaquismo, revisar la eficacia de las opciones asistenciales existentes en tabaquismo, sintetizar la evidencia disponible sobre el impacto de las políticas asistenciales en la disminución del porcentaje de personas fumadoras y señalar las necesidades existentes en este sector. El documento señala los mínimos básicos para orientar las actuaciones asistenciales de calidad en España, teniendo en cuenta criterios de riesgo sanitario, accesibilidad, eficiencia, sostenibilidad y equidad

Retinal Thickness Changes Over Time in a Murine AD Model APP NL-F/NL-F.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) may present retinal changes before brain pathology, suggesting the retina as an accessible biomarker of AD. The present work is a diachronic study using spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) to determine the total retinal thickness and retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness in an APPNL-F/NL-F mouse model of AD at 6, 9, 12, 15, 17, and 20 months old compared to wild type (WT) animals. Methods: Total retinal thickness and RNFL thickness were determined. The mean total retinal thickness was analyzed following the Early Treatment Diabetic Retinopathy Study sectors. RNFL was measured in six sectors of axonal ring scans around the optic nerve. Results: In the APPNL-F/NL-F group compared to WT animals, the total retinal thickness changes observed were the following: (i) At 6-months-old, a significant thinning in the outer temporal sector was observed; (ii) at 15-months-old a significant thinning in the inner temporal and in the inner and outer inferior retinal sectors was noticed; (iii) at 17-months-old, a significant thickening in the inferior and nasal sectors was found in both inner and outer rings; and (iv) at 20-months-old, a significant thinning in the inner ring of nasal, temporal, and inferior retina and in the outer ring of superior and temporal retina was seen. In RNFL thickness, there was significant thinning in the global analysis and in nasal and inner-temporal sectors at 6 months old. Thinning was also found in the supero-temporal and nasal sectors and global value at 20 months old. Conclusions: In the APPNL-F/NL-F AD model, the retinal thickness showed thinning, possibly produced by neurodegeneration alternating with thickening caused by deposits and neuroinflammation in some areas of the retina. These changes over time are similar to those observed in the human retina and could be a biomarker for AD. The APPNL-F/NL-F AD model may help us better understand the different retinal changes during the progression of AD.This research was funded by the Ophthalmological Network OFTARED (RD16/0008/0005) of the Institute of Health of Carlos III of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; and the Research Network RETIBRAIN (RED2018-102499-T) and Grant PID2019-106581RB-I00 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation; and Leducq Foundation for Cardiovascular Research TNE-19CVD01. IL-C was currently supported by a Pre-doctoral Fellowship (CT42/18-CT43/18) from the Complutense University of Madrid. JF-A was currently supported by a Pre-doctoral Fellowship (FPU17/01023) from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities.S