CHEMISTRY LEARNING WITH APPLICATION OF THE ZONE OF PROXIMAL DEVELOPMENT AND USE OF CONCEPTUAL MAPS IN THE CHEMISTRY LAB

Indexación: Scopus; Scielo.The present study focuses on the deficient learning of health science students in the General Chemistry course in the first level higher education, specifically regarding the topic of aqueous dissolutions in terms of the meaning of pH and how to determine it. The causes of this problem are: i) the difficulty relating the theory to the practice, ii) the lack of strategies that help and motivate learning, iii) the inability to underst and and resolve problems or exercises, and iv) a deficiencyon basic mathematical aptitudes for application in resolving problems and exercises, among others. The research considered the academic results obtained bystudents of various careers in the area of health sciences students in the past, to subsequently determine the research group, resulting it the career of nursingstudents. To achieve this type of learning, the Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) was applied, together with the metacognitive strategy of Conceptual Maps (CM) and feedback & self-correction in practical laboratory activities. This study was carried out at a university and involved nursing students because they havemany difficulties learning experimental sciences, especially chemistry, because the students of other careers do not have many weaknesses in this science, beingevidenced in the results at end of the semester-The sample experimental group consisted of 336 nursing students and the control group 420 students of nutrition and dietetics and dentistry taking the unit "General Chemistry", who provided all the information for this study.http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/jcchems/v61n1/art02.pd

Nitrogen metabolism and gene expression landscape in maritime pine

This work was supported by the ProCoGen grant (FP7-KBBE-2011-5) and by the MicroNUpE grant (BIO2015-73512-JIN).Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is one the most important conifer species in the southwestern Mediterranean region because of its economic and environmental potential. For this reason, a work program in functional genomics has been developed in the frame of the ProCoGen project. One objective was to complete the knowledge about P. pinaster transcriptome with the tissue-specific localization of the gene expression of the low accumulated transcripts in sharper regions (Cañas et al. 2017). In order to reach these objectives total RNA was obtained from isolated tissues through laser capture microdissection (LCM). Due to the limiting amount from these extracts, the RNA samples were reverse-transcribed and the resultant cDNA amplified using our CRA+ protocol (Cañas et al. 2014). The obtained reads were assembled to improve the previous reference transcriptome. Reads were mapped against this transcriptome and the read accounts analyzed in order to found gene co-expression networks using the WGCNA software. These results have allowed us the characterization of nitrogen metabolism in maritime pine during the seedling stage stablishing relationships between the different components. This include the identification of new genes with low or very localized expression as occurred for the PpGS1c gene encoding a new cytosolic glutamine synthetase. From this starting point, we are developing a new project, MicroNUpE, to identify and study the genes involved in ammonium uptake and regulation in different root tissues that will be isolated through LCM. Cañas et al. (2017). Plant J, doi:10.1111/tpj.13617. Cañas et al. (2014). Tree Physiol, 34:1278-1288.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Hipotiroidismo congénito: Evaluación del programa de screening neonatal

En los últimos 25 años del siglo XX, los avances tecnológicos permitieron cambiar de forma drástica -en los países industrializados-, el momento diagnóstico, el comienzo del tratamiento substitutivo y el pronóstico intelectual de los hipotiroideos congénitos. En el momento presente, en España, se ha conseguido generalizar y optimizar el programa de screening neonatal, consiguiendo una cobertura prácticamente del 100%. Por otra parte, los posteriores controles que requieren estos pacientes deben ser mantenidos durante la infancia y la adolescencia, en unidades de Endocrinología Pediátrica. Se recogen el presente estudio, una serie de casos controlados en el Hospital Clínico Universitario de Valladolid entre 1990-2016.Grado en Medicin

Analysis of NPF and NRT transporter families regarding the nitrate nutrition in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster)

Nitrogen is an essential element for life and the main limiting nutrient for plant growth and development1. The main forms of inorganic nitrogen in soils are nitrate and ammonium, which relative abundances depend on environmental conditions such as temperature. In agricultural soils the most abundant nitrogen form is nitrate because the use of chemical fertilizers however in natural ecosystems nitrogen soil composition can be more complex. Conifers are tree gymnosperms with a wide distribution although their large forests dominate the boreal ecosystems where nitrification is limited and ammonium is the main nitrogen soil source2. In this context, conifers have an appreciable tolerance to ammonium. Maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a conifer from the western Mediterranean region of high economic and ecological interest in Spain, France and Portugal. This pine is also a research model tree with different genomic resources such as a reference transcriptome and a gene expression atlas3. Taking advantage of these resources the members of the NPF and NRT transporter families involved in nitrate uptake and transport have been identified and analyzed in maritime pine4. Among the transporter families, the NRT3 one is expanded and composed by six members. The capacity of maritime pine to use nitrate or ammonium has been analyzed in seedlings. The development and growth responses to nitrate nutrition are comparable to ammonium supply. At molecular level, there are strong gene expressions for genes involved in nitrate uptake and assimilation such as Nitrate Reductase, Nitrite Reductase, Glutamine Synthetase 1a, three NRT3 genes and different NPF family members in the different organs. Since the NPF proteins can transport different metabolites, peptides and hormones, the NPF transporters involved in nitrate transport are being identified.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This project was supported by the grant MicroNUpE, BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE. JMVM was supported by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (FPU17/03517) and FO by a grant from the Universidad de Málaga (Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil vía SNJG, UMAJI11, FEDER, FSE, Junta de Andalucía)

La Casa de Juan I de Castilla: aspectos domésticos y ámbitos privados de la realeza castellana a finales del siglo XIV (ca. 1370-1390)

The structure of the Royal House of Castile during the Middle Ages has been the subject of important interest by historians in recent years. Now, for the first time, this article addresses the study of the Royal House of John I in response to the most private aspects of everyday life at court during years of profound political, cultural and institutional change in Castile.La estructura de la Casa Real de Castilla durante la Baja Edad Media ha sido en los últimos años objeto de un notable interés por parte de la historiografía. Abordamos ahora por vez primera el estudio de la Casa de Juan I atendiendo a los aspectos más privados y cotidianos de la vida en la corte en aquellos años de profundas transformaciones políticas, culturales e institucionales en Castilla

Urraca Téllez: Social ancestry and political-religious projection of a prioress of Santo Domingo el Real de Toledo (ca. 1352 - †1431-32)

Resum disponible en castellà i anglèsLas siguientes páginas tienen como objetivo reconstruir la biografía de Urraca Téllez, monja y priora de Santo Domingo el Real de Toledo, haciendo un especial hincapié en los contextos políticos, sociales, espirituales y culturales que confluyeron en la primera etapa de Santo Domingo el Real de Toledo hasta convertirlo en uno de los centros de poder más destacados de la Corona de Castilla a finales de la Edad Media.The following pages are intended to reconstruct the biography of Urraca Tellez, nun and prioress of Santo Domingo el Real in Toledo, with particular emphasis on the political, social, spiritual and cultural contexts that came together in the first stage of Santo Domingo el Real Toledo to make it one of the most prominent centers of power of the Crown of Castile in the the late Middle Ages

An unexpected actor in ammonium assimilation in conifer trees

Conifers are tree species with enormous environmental and economic interests but with several characteristics that complicate their investigation (big size, secondary compounds, large long-life cycles, megagenomes…). However, they are well adapted to ammonium-rich soils being a good model to study ammonium assimilation in plants. Although they have a special feature, only two glutamine synthetase (GS, EC 6.3.1.2) genes, GS1a and GS1b, coding for cytosolic proteins, have been identified. In angiosperms and in the gymnosperm Ginkgo biloba there are two types of this enzyme responsible of the ammonium assimilation: GS1 expressed in the cytosol and GS2 in the plastids. Until the date, the searches of new GS1 and GS2 genes in conifers have been made with classical biochemical and molecular biology techniques without satisfactory results. In the present context, the emergence of the next generation sequencing (NGS) techniques has open new opportunities in the resolution of old problems. They have allowed the whole sequencing of the massive conifer genomes and the analysis of their transcriptomes. Thus, in the framework of the European project ProCoGen, a gene expression atlas of the tissues of one-month seedlings was carried out using laser capture microdissection (LCM) and massive sequencing in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster), which is a conifer tree from the Southwestern Mediterranean region1. From the analysis of this work, a new gene coding for a new putative cytosolic GS has been identified, PpGS1c. 1Cañas, RA et al. (2017). Plant J, 91. 1064-1087Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. Project funding by Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad BIO2015-69285-R and MicroNUpE (BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE

Urraca Téllez : ascendencia social y proyección político-religiosa de una priora de Santo Domingo el Real de Toledo (ca. 1352 - †1431-32)

Este trabajo se ha realizado en el marco del proyecto de investigación financiado por el Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación nº HAR2010-16762/HIST titulado "Prácticas de consenso y de pacto e instrumentos de representación en la cultura política castellana (siglos XIII al XV)". Investigador principal: Dr. José Manuel Nieto Soria.Las siguientes páginas tienen como objetivo reconstruir la biografía de Urraca Téllez, monja y priora de Santo Domingo el Real de Toledo, haciendo un especial hincapié en los contextos políticos, sociales, espirituales y culturales que confluyeron en la primera etapa de Santo Domingo el Real de Toledo hasta convertirlo en uno de los centros de poder más destacados de la Corona de Castilla a finales de la Edad Media.The following pages are intended to reconstruct the biography of Urraca Tellez, nun and prioress of Santo Domingo el Real in Toledo, with particular emphasis on the political, social, spiritual and cultural contexts that came together in the first stage of Santo Domingo el Real Toledo to make it one of the most prominent centers of power of the Crown of Castile in the the late Middle Ages

Transcriptomics of ammonium nutrition in the conifer Pinus pinaster Aiton

Nitrogen is an important element for all living beings because it is part of macromolecules as significant as nucleic acids or amino acids. For plants, it constitutes a limiting factor in their growth and development1 due to their low natural availability in soils thus limiting primary production in ecosystems2. Conifers are a group of gymnosperm plants that form large forest extensions of vegetation, being the main constituents of forests in boreal ecosystems3 where ammonium is the main source of inorganic nitrogen4. Due to the characteristics of the soils in which conifers usually grow, these plants have developed a high tolerance to the presence of ammonium, which may constitute their main source of inorganic nitrogen5. The maritime pine (Pinus pinaster Aiton) is a conifer that has a wide distribution in the western Mediterranean area and has been widely used in reforestation, soil stabilization tasks and industrially. In recent years, maritime pine has been the subject of multiple omic studies that have resulted in the acquisition of important tools and resources6,7. The present work is focused on the analysis of the ammonium uptake and management efficiency, and its relationship with the biomass accumulation in maritime pine. For this purpose, several experiments have been developed in which pine seedlings have undergone different levels of ammonium nutrition, both in the short and long term. As a result of short-term experiments, the characterization of transcriptomic response to the process of ammonium nutrition (uptake and assimilation) is being studied at mRNA, lncRNA and miRNA level in roots. In relation to long-term experiments, ten different provenances of maritime pine seedlings were treated with different ammonium levels and the biomass changes were measured. The results obtained suggest the existence a certain phenotypic plasticity grade for this conifer.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech. This project was supported by a grant form the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades (MicroNUpE, BIO2015-73512-JIN; MINECO/AEI/FEDER, UE). FO was supported by a grant from the Universidad de Málaga (Programa Operativo de Empleo Juvenil vía SNJG, UMAJI11, FEDER, FSE, Junta de Andalucía) and JMVM by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Educación y Formación Profesional (FPU17/03517

Transcriptional regulation os phenylalaline biosynthesis and utilization

Conifer trees divert large quantities of carbon into the biosynthesis of phenylpropanoids, particularly to generate lignin, an important constituent of wood. Since phenylalanine is the precursor for phenylpropanoid biosynthesis, the precise regulation of phenylalanine synthesis and utilization should occur simultaneously. This crucial pathway is finely regulated primarily at the transcriptional level. Transcriptome analyses indicate that the transcription factors (TFs) preferentially expressed during wood formation in plants belong to the MYB and NAC families. Craven-Bartle et al. (2013) have shown in conifers that Myb8 is a candidate regulator of key genes in phenylalanine biosynthesis involved in the supply of the phenylpropane carbon skeleton necessary for lignin biosynthesis. This TF is able to bind AC elements present in the promoter regions of these genes to activate transcription. Constitutive overexpression of Myb8 in white spruce increased secondary-wall thickening and led to ectopic lignin deposition (Bomal et al. 2008). In Arabidopsis, the transcriptional network controlling secondary cell wall involves NAC-domain regulators operating upstream Myb transcription factors. Functional orthologues of members of this network described have been identified in poplar and eucalyptus, but in conifers functional evidence had only been obtained for MYBs. We have identified in the P. pinaster genome 37 genes encoding NAC proteins, which 3 NAC proteins could be potential candidates to be involved in vascular development (Pascual et al. 2015). The understanding of the transcriptional regulatory network associated to phenylpropanoids and lignin biosynthesis in conifers is crucial for future applications in tree improvement and sustainable forest management. This work is supported by the projects BIO2012-33797, BIO2015-69285-R and BIO-474 References: Bomal C, et al. (2008) Involvement of Pinus taeda MYB1 and MYB8 in phenylpropanoid metabolism and secondary cell wall biogenesis: a comparative in planta analysis. J Exp Bot. 59: 3925-3939. Craven-Bartle B, et al. (2013) A Myb transcription factor regulates genes of the phenylalanine pathway in maritime pine. Plant J, 74: 755-766. Pascual MB, et al. (2015) The NAC transcription factor family in maritime pine (Pinus pinaster): molecular regulation of two genes involved in stress responses. BMC Plant Biol, 15: 254.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech