The communicative processes from the perspective of educators in the era of Digital Culture

Resumen: El proceso comunicativo que establecen los educadores con sus aprendices es esencial para el desarrollo efectivo del proceso de enseñanza y aprendizaje. En este artículo se presentan los resultados de una investigación cuantitativa que pretende conocer la percepción que tienen los profesionales de la educación en España acerca de los procesos comunicativos, poniéndolos en relación con su formación en medios de comunicación. Los resultados muestran que prevalece entre el profesorado, una noción sobre la comunicación educativa basada en la "teoría de la señal" que considera que los actos comunicativos son unidireccionales, centrados en los contenidos, algo que parece estar vinculado a la escasa formación en medios que reciben los docentes.Abstract: The communicative process that educators have with their students is essential for the effective development of the teaching and learning process. This article presents the results of a quantitative research that aims to understand the perception that educational professionals in Spain have of the communication processes. The results show that a notion prevails among educational communication teachers based on the "signal theory" which considers that communicative acts are unidirectional and focused on the content , which seems will be linked to the poor media training received by teachers

Desarrollo de una herramienta interactiva online (campus virtual) para la realización y corrección de ejercicios como herramienta de aprendizaje en mejora genética

Se ha desarrollo de una herramienta interactiva para la resolución de problemas por parte del alumno de la asignatura Mejora Genética de los Animales de Interés Veterinario (Grado en Veterinaria). Al acceder a la herramienta, a través del campus virtual de la asignatura, selecciona entre el índice de problemas, aquel que desea resolver. Al introducir los resultados se corrige en el momento el ejercicio por lo que el alumno conoce los errores cometidos sin necesidad de esperar. El alumno puede utilizar la herramienta tantas veces como considere oportuno y en cada ingreso los datos de los problemas cambian. Los resultados introducidos por el alumno y sus calificaciones se almacenan, con el objetivo de analizar el uso de la herramienta y los resultados obtenidos por los alumnos. Para facilitar la resolución de los problemas al alumno se le facilita a través del campus virtual un documento con apuntes y un hilo abierto en el foro de la asignatura para la resolución de dudas entre ellos y con el profesor.Depto. de Producción AnimalFac. de VeterinariaFALSEsubmitte

Anesthesiology Resident Performance on the US Medical Licensing Examination Predicts Success on the American Board of Anesthesiology BASIC Staged Examination: An Observational Study

BACKGROUND: Correlation has been found between the US Medical Licensing Examination (USMLE) Step 1 examination results and anesthesiology resident success on American Board of Anesthesiology (ABA) examinations. In 2014, the ABA instituted the BASIC examination at the end of the postgraduate year-2 year. We hypothesized a similar predictive value of USMLE scores on BASIC examination success. METHODS: After the Committee for the Protection of Human Subjects at UTHealth Institutional Review Board approved and waived written consent, we retrospectively evaluated USMLE Step examination performance on first-time BASIC examination success in a single academic department from 2014-2018. RESULTS: Over 5 years, 120 residents took the ABA BASIC examination and 108 (90%) passed on the first attempt. Ten of 12 first-time failures were successful on repeat examination but analyzed in the failure group. Complete data was available for 92 residents (76.7%), with absent scores primarily reflecting osteopathic graduates who completed Comprehensive Osteopathic Medical Licensing Examination of the United States level examinations rather than USMLE. In the failure cohort, all 3 USMLE examination step scores were lower ( CONCLUSIONS: In anesthesiology residency training, our preliminary single-center data is the first to suggest that USMLE Step 1 performance could be used as a predictor of success on the recently introduced ABA BASIC Examination. These findings do not support recent action to change USMLE scoring to a pass/fail report

Morphological and functional changes in TRPM8-expressing corneal cold thermoreceptor neurons during aging and their impact on tearing in mice

Morphological and functional alterations of peripheral somatosensory neurons during the aging process lead to a decline of somatosensory perception. Here, we analyze the changes occurring with aging in trigeminal ganglion (TG), TRPM8-expressing cold thermoreceptor neurons innervating the mouse cornea, which participate in the regulation of basal tearing and blinking and have been implicated in the pathogenesis of dry eye disease (DED). TG cell bodies and axonal branches were examined in a mouse line (TRPM8BAC-EYFP) expressing a fluorescent reporter. In 3 months old animals, about 50% of TG cold thermoreceptor neurons were intensely fluorescent, likely providing strongly fluorescent axons and complex corneal nerve terminals with ongoing activity at 348C and low-threshold, robust responses to cooling. The remaining TRPM81 corneal axons were weakly fluorescent with nonbeaded axons, sparsely ramified nerve terminals, and exhibited a low-firing rate at 348C, responding moderately to cooling pulses as do weakly fluorescent TG neurons. In aged (24 months) mice, the number of weakly fluorescent TG neurons was strikingly high while the morphology of TRPM81 corneal axons changed drastically; 89% were weakly fluorescent, unbranched, and often ending in the basal epithelium. Functionally, 72.5% of aged cold terminals responded as those of young animals, but 27.5% exhibited very low-background activity and abnormal responsiveness to cooling pulses. These morpho-functional changes develop in parallel with an enhancement of tear’s basal flow and osmolarity, suggesting that the aberrant sensory inflow to the brain from impaired peripheral cold thermoreceptors contributes to age-induced abnormal tearing and to the high incidence of DED in elderly people.This work was supported by grants FC-15-GRUPIN14–141 (Consejería de Economía y Empleo, Asturias, Spain),Fundación Ramón Areces, Caja Rural de Asturias, SAF2014–54518-C3-2-R, SAF2014– 54518-C3-1-R, SAF2017–83674-C2-2-R, SAF2017–83674-C2-1-R,SAF2016–77233-R (Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad, Spain and European Regional Development Funds, European Union)“Severo Ochoa” Program for Centers of Excellence in R&D (SEV-2013-0317)

Melatonin uptake by cells: An answer to its relationship with glucose?

Melatonin, N-acetyl-5-methoxytryptamine, is an indole mainly synthesized from tryptophan in the pineal gland and secreted exclusively during the night in all the animals reported to date. While the pineal gland is the major source responsible for this night rise, it is not at all the exclusive production site and many other tissues and organs produce melatonin as well. Likewise, melatonin is not restricted to vertebrates, as its presence has been reported in almost all the phyla from protozoa to mammals. Melatonin displays a large set of functions including adaptation to light: dark cycles, free radical scavenging ability, antioxidant enzyme modulation, immunomodulatory actions or differentiation–proliferation regulatory effects, among others. However, in addition to those important functions, this evolutionary ‘ancient’ molecule still hides further tools with important cellular implications. The major goal of the present review is to discuss the data and experiments that have addressed the relationship between the indole and glucose. Classically, the pineal gland and a pinealectomy were associated with glucose homeostasis even before melatonin was chemically isolated. Numerous reports have provided the molecular components underlying the regulatory actions of melatonin on insulin secretion in pancreatic beta-cells, mainly involving membrane receptors MTNR1A/B, which would be partially responsible for the circadian rhythmicity of insulin in the organism. More recently, a new line of evidence has shown that glucose transporters GLUT/SLC2A are linked to melatonin uptake and its cellular internalization. Beside its binding to membrane receptors, melatonin transportation into the cytoplasm, required for its free radical scavenging abilities, still generates a great deal of debate. Thus, GLUT transporters might constitute at least one of the keys to explain the relationship between glucose and melatonin. These and other potential mechanisms responsible for such interaction are also discussed here

GLUT1 protects prostate cancer cells from glucose deprivation-induced oxidative stress

Glucose, chief metabolic support for cancer cell survival and growth, is mainly imported into cells by facilitated glucose transporters (GLUTs). The increase in glucose uptake along with tumor progression is due to an increment of facilitative glucose transporters as GLUT1. GLUT1 prevents cell death of cancer cells caused by growth factors deprivation, but there is scarce information about its role on the damage caused by glucose deprivation, which usually occurs within the core of a growing tumor. In prostate cancer (PCa), GLUT1 is found in the most aggressive tumors, and it is regulated by androgens. To study the response of androgen-sensitive and insensitive PCa cells to glucose deprivation and the role of GLUT1 on survival mechanisms, androgen-sensitive LNCaP and castration-resistant LNCaP-R cells were employed. Results demonstrated that glucose deprivation induced a necrotic type of cell death which is prevented by antioxidants. Androgen-sensitive cells show a higher resistance to cell death triggered by glucose deprivation than castration-resistant cells. Glucose removal causes an increment of H2O2, an activation of androgen receptor (AR) and a stimulation of AMP-activated protein kinase activity. In addition, glucose removal increases GLUT1 production in androgen sensitive PCa cells. GLUT1 ectopic overexpression makes PCa cells more resistant to glucose deprivation and oxidative stress-induced cell death. Under glucose deprivation, GLUT1 overexpressing PCa cells sustains mitochondrial SOD2 activity, compromised after glucose removal, and significantly increases reduced glutathione (GSH). In conclusion, androgen-sensitive PCa cells are more resistant to glucose deprivation-induced cell death by a GLUT1 upregulation through an enhancement of reduced glutathione levels. Keywords: Glut1, Prostate cancer, Glucose deprivation, Androgen receptor, Glutathione, Oxidative stres