Spanish: Reality Online

Today, learning takes place in multi-faceted environments. The learner can interact through a social network or explore content using a learning management system. A common assumption is that most learners speak and obtain information using the English language, however, Spanish is the nation\u27s second most common language and the third most common language in the world. In the medical profession, Spanish is an essential language which can be successfully integrated not only into the curriculum but also into a learning environment such as ANGEL. This presentation will include a discussion and demonstration of how the Advanced Medical Spanish Course (taught in ANGEL) integrates the use of Spanish within the medical curriculum

Caracterización socio-económica y ecológica de huertos caseros tradicionales en la comunidad Punta Águila, municipio de Bluefields, RAAS, de Nicaragua (2002-2003).

La caracterización socio-económica y ecológica de los huertos caseros tradicionales de la comunidad Punta Águila, es un estudio investigativo producto de la necesidad de facilitar a los comunitarios una documentación que les permita conocer la rentabilidad y potencialidad de su sistema de huerto evitando así que esto sean sustituidos por el sistema de la ganadería. El estudio muestra que los huertos caseros de la comunidad se caracterizan por su tamaño reducido (0.36 ha promedio) presenta cuatro a cinco niveles verticales, características que hace que sean comparadas con el ecosistema de bosque manteniendo así un ciclo cerrado de nutrientes, control biológico naturales, evitando igual la compactación directa del agua y proporcionando materia orgánica a especie de menor tamaño. Los huertos caseros registraron una diversidad de 30 especies de las cuales 13 tienen mayor importancia para los comunitarios. Las especies se clasificaron en 5 categorías de uso: frutales, medicinales, cultivo, leñosos y ornamentales, siendo los frutales la categoría principal seguida de la medicinal, esto debido a que las dos categorías brindan a las familias productos necesarios del hogar como lo son alimentos y medicinas durante todo el año. Lo producido en los huertos caseros es destinado principalmente autoconsumo, el resto de la producción se distribuye en lo que es alimento de animales, regalo y venta en algunas ocasiones. Los comunitarios presentaron hábitos alimenticios de preferencia a los frutales (cítricos, mango, papaya, guanábana, piña, guayaba ...), los cuales desempeñan funciones muy importantes en el aporte de vitaminas A, B y C a los miembros de las familias. Socio-económicamente un huerto casero puede generar ingresos netos mayores de cero, sustituyendo productos del mercado, evitando que el propietario invierta en su compra, por lo que se podría decir que es un sistema agroforestal rentable en términos monetarios ya que no demanda de mucha inversión de mano de obra, requiere de pocos insumos, genera ingresos en la venta de algunos productos y permite la participación de la mujer y l@s niñ@s. Se recomienda que a los comunitarios se les facilite capacitaciones técnicas que les permita mejorar e incrementar el rendimiento de sus sistemas de huerto casero y no sustituirlos por el sistema de ganadería, en caso que se decidan practicar la ganadería que esta sea de una manera sostenible sin destruir su huerto, ya que les proporciona beneficios (directos e indirectos) para ellos y el medio ambiente

Gene-based analysis in HRC imputed genome wide association data identifies three novel genes for Alzheimer's disease.

Late onset Alzheimer's disease is the most common form of dementia for which about 30 susceptibility loci have been reported. The aim of the current study is to identify novel genes associated with Alzheimer's disease using the largest up-to-date reference single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) panel, the most accurate imputation software and a novel gene-based analysis approach which tests for patterns of association within genes, in the powerful genome-wide association dataset of the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project Consortium, comprising over 7 million genotypes from 17,008 Alzheimer's cases and 37,154 controls. In addition to earlier reported genes, we detected three novel gene-wide significant loci PPARGC1A (p = 2.2 × 10-6), RORA (p = 7.4 × 10-7) and ZNF423 (p = 2.1 × 10-6). PPARGC1A and RORA are involved in circadian rhythm; circadian disturbances are one of the earliest symptoms of Alzheimer's disease. PPARGC1A is additionally linked to energy metabolism and the generation of amyloid beta plaques. RORA is involved in a variety of functions apart from circadian rhythm, such as cholesterol metabolism and inflammation. The ZNF423 gene resides in an Alzheimer's disease-specific protein network and is likely involved with centrosomes and DNA damage repair

Gene-Based Analysis in HRC Imputed Genome Wide Association Data Identifies Three Novel Genes For Alzheimer’s Disease

A novel POLARIS gene-based analysis approach was employed to compute gene-based polygenic risk score (PRS) for all individuals in the latest HRC imputed GERAD (N cases=3,332 and N controls=9,832) data using the International Genomics of Alzheimer’s Project summary statistics (N cases=13,676 and N controls=27,322, excluding GERAD subjects) to identify the SNPs and weight their risk alleles for the PRS score. SNPs were assigned to known, protein coding genes using GENCODE (v19). SNPs are assigned using both 1) no window around the gene and 2) a window of 35kb upstream and 10kb downstream to include transcriptional regulatory elements. The overall association of a gene is determined using a logistic regression model, adjusting for population covariates. Three novel gene-wide significant genes were determined from the POLARIS gene-based analysis using a gene window; PPARGC1A, RORA and ZNF423 . The ZNF423 gene resides in an Alzheimer’s disease (AD)-specific protein network which also includes other AD-related genes. The PPARGC1A gene has been linked to energy metabolism and the generation of amyloid beta plaques and the RORA has strong links with genes which are differentially expressed in the hippocampus. We also demonstrate no enrichment for genes in either loss of function intolerant or conserved noncoding sequence regions

Gene-based analysis in HRC imputed genome wide association data identifies three novel genes for Alzheimer’s disease

A novel POLARIS gene-based analysis approach was employed to compute gene-based polygenic risk score (PRS) for all individuals in the latest HRC imputed GERAD (N cases=3332 and N controls=9,832) data using the International Genomics of Alzheimer's Project summary statistics (N cases=13676 and N controls= 27322, excluding GERAD subjects) to identify the SNPs and weight their risk alleles for the PRS score. SNPs were assigned to known, protein coding genes using GENCODE (v19). SNPs are assigned using both 1) no window around the gene and 2) a window of 35kb upstream and 10kb downstream to include transcriptional regulatory elements. The overall association of a gene is determined using a logistic regression model, adjusting for population covariates. Three novel gene wide significant genes were determined for the POLARIS gene-based analysis using a gene window; PPARGC1A, RORA and ZNF423. The ZNF432 gene resides in an Alzheimer's disease (AD) specific protein network which also includes other AD-related genes. The PPARGC1A gene has been linked to energy metabolism and the generation of amyloid beta plaques and the RORA has strong links with genes which are differentially expressed in the hippocampus. We also demonstrate no enrichment for genes in either loss of function intolerant or conserved noncoding sequence regions

Retinal ganglion cell dendritic degeneration in a mouse model of Alzheimer\u27s disease.

Retinal ganglion cells (RGCs) may be regarded as a target biomarker in Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD). We therefore explored the possibility that RGC degeneration, rather than cell loss, is an early marker of neuronal degeneration in a murine model of AD. RGC dendritic morphology and dendritic spine densities of CA1 hippocampal pyramidal neurons were quantified in 14-month-old transgenic mice expressing the APP(SWE) (amyloid precusor protein-Swedish mutation) mutation (Tg2576). The dendritic integrity of RGCs was found to be significantly reduced in the absence of significant RGC loss in Tg2576 mice compared with age-matched wild-type controls. In hippocampal CA1 pyramidal neurons, we observed dendritic spines to be present at a lower frequency from the same animals, but this did not reach significance. Synaptic and mitochondrial protein expression markers (PSD95 [postsynaptic density protein 95], synaptophysin, and Mfn2 [mitofusin 2]) showed no significant changes in RGC synaptic densities but a highly significant change in mitochondrial morphology with a marked reduction in the integrity of the mitochondrial cristae. Our findings suggest that, in a well-characterized mouse model of AD, RGC dendritic atrophy precedes cell loss, and this change may be because of accumulations of amyloid-β. Because RGC dendrites are confined to the inner plexiform layer of the retina, imaging techniques that focus on this layer, rather than the loss of RGCs, may provide a sensitive biomarker for monitoring neural damage in AD. Neurobiol Aging 2013 Jul; 34(7):1799-806