Canvis globals i atenció a la diversitat. Aportació inclusiva al projecte de centre

L’article explica el procés de canvi que han experimentat els centres des de la implementació de les competències bàsiques. L’objectiu principal d’aquest procés és concretar la línia metodològica i el model d’atenció a la diversitat que donarà identitat al nostre projecte de centrea. Així mateix, serà la base fonamental per generar pràctiques pedagògiques inclusives que responguin a les demandes i necessitats educatives, socials i culturals de tot l’alumnat.El artículo explica el proceso de cambio llevado a cabo a nivel de centro a raíz de la implementación de las competencias básicas. El objectivo principal de este proceso es concretar la línea metodológica y el modelo de atención a la diversidad, que teñirá de identitad nuestro proyecto de centro. Asimismo, constituirá la base fundamental sobre la cual se irán generando prácticas pedagógicas inclusivas que darán respuesta a las demandas y necesidades educativas, sociales y culturales de todo el alumnado

Raising awareness and combatting digital gender based violence through service-learning

Digital Gender Based Violence (DGBV) is a growing social problem and affects especially younger people. DGBV describes any kind of Gender Based Violence (GBV) related with new Information and Communication Technologies. To combat DGBV we designed the teaching innovation project "Digital gender-based violence: learning from feminisms" aiming to contribute to the eradication of digital sexist violence in order to promote healthy digital relationships. The project is part of the broader Service Learning project of the University of Barcelona “Sharing Ideas – University goes to High school”: In the classes at University, students will learn the curriculum specific content, to develop a workshop to be implemented in short sessions with high school students.We implement the project at the University of Barcelona in the subjects Social Control (6 ECTS, compulsory) and Sociology of Genders (3 ECTS, optional) of the Sociology Bachelor. Beside the high schools, the project also involves the feminist third sector organization Alia complementing the university students’ training on DGBV. The different actors involved underline the inter-institutional character of the project. The project is a special Service Learning experience as it applies feminist research and teaching methodologies, emphasizing social transformation of gender inequalities.For our project, we share our research results on DGBV with our students in order to enable them to identify and recognize what are DGBV and why they occur. Therefor we expose our own research answering the following questions: what profiles are most affected? What are the profiles of the aggressors? What are the survivors’ reactions on DGBV and how do they evaluate them? For the introductory sessions, we count with the support of the third sector association Alia. The main objective of these activities is to raise the awareness of existing DGBV between adolescents and young people. In addition, we aim to share tools to protect themselves from DGBV as well as to deal with DGBV in order to finally eradicate DGBV.We wonder if the project achieves its goals: Do university students acquire new content at class? Are the contents we provide university students with helpful in order to prepare the workshops at school? What are the additional contents and competences acquired during the workshops at school? Do the high school students benefit from the workshop in terms of contents and competences? We also assess gender differences taking into account gender and paying specially attention to non-binary identified persons. In order to assess these research questions, we consider observation of the sessions, students’ reflections (qualitative) as well as a quantitative questionnaire

Los jóvenes y la reproducción asistida

Hasta no hace demasiados años, la naturaleza y la biología eran de los pocos fenómenos que proporcionaban seguridad debido a su estabilidad. En la actualidad estos procesos están cambiando rápidamente y el imaginario social se debe adaptar. Objetivo. El objetivo de este trabajo consiste en conocer la opinión de los jóvenes sobre la reproducción asistida (captar las representaciones ideológicas, valores, y creencias). Diseño y metodología: Se han realizado cinco grupos de discusión de seis jóvenes cada uno. La información generada en la investigación se ha presentado en forma de texto narrativo y posteriormente se ha realizado su análisis siguiendo el esquema propuesto de Miles y Huberman. (1994). Resultados: Se han establecido seis categorías que han emergido de los discursos, y finalmente se han analizado en un mapa de significados. Conclusiones: La tecnología reproductiva puede facilitar cambios en el territorio familiar y sobretodo en el femenino, al promover a partir de su reflexión cambios en las construcciones culturales de las personas. Sería conveniente establecer programas educativos en los que se informara sobre las estadísticas de infertilidad y sus causas, así como las técnicas de reproducción asistida que se pueden utilizar; éxitos, fracasos, y complicaciones, pues existe desconocimiento y confusión en sus futuros usuarios

Forest resilience to global warming is strongly modulated by local-scale topographic, microclimatic and biotic conditions

Resilience of endangered rear edge populations of cold-adapted forests in the Mediterranean basin is increasingly altered by extreme heatwave and drought pressures. It remains unknown, however, whether microclimatic variation in these isolated forests could ultimately result in large intra-population variability in the demographic responses, allowing the coexistence of contrasting declining and resilient trends across small topographic gradients. Multiple key drivers promoting spatial variability in the resilience of rear edge forests remain largely unassessed, including amplified and buffered thermal exposure induced by heatwaves along topographic gradients, and increased herbivory pressure on tree saplings in defaunated areas lacking efficient apex predators. Here we analysed whether indicators of forest resilience to global warming are strongly modulated by local-scale topographic, microclimatic and biotic conditions. We studied a protected rear edge forest of sessile oak Quercus petraea, applying a suite of 20 indicators of resilience of tree secondary growth, including multidecadal and short-term indices. We also analysed sapling recruitment success, recruit/adult ratios and sapling thermal exposure across topographic gradients. We found large within population variation in secondary growth resilience, in recruitment success and in thermal exposure of tree saplings to heatwaves, and this variability was spatially structured along small-scale topographical gradients. Multidecadal resilience indices and curves provide useful descriptors of forest vulnerability to climate warming, complementing assessments based in the analysis of short-term resilience indicators. Species-specific associations of trees with microclimatic variability are reported. Biotic factors are key in determining long-term resilience in climatically stressed rear edge forests, with strong limitation of sapling recruitment by increased roe deer and wild boar herbivory. Our results also support non-stationary effects of climate determining forest growth responses and resilience, showing increased negative effects of warming and drought over the last decades in declining stands. Synthesis. Our findings do not support scenarios predicting spatially homogeneous distributional shifts and limited resilience in rear edge populations, and are more supportive of scenarios including spatially heterogeneous responses, characterised with contrasting intra-population trends of forest resilience. We conclude that forest resilience responses to climate warming are strongly modulated by local-scale microclimatic, topographic and biotic factors. Accurate predictions of forest responses to changes in climate would therefore largely benefit from the integration of local-scale abiotic and biotic factors

Effect of effervescent paracetamol on blood pressure: a crossover randomized clinical trial

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of effervescent paracetamol on office and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) compared with noneffervescent paracetamol in hypertensive patients. DESIGN: This was a multicenter open crossover randomized clinical trial. SETTING: Primary care centers in Catalonia and the Basque Country. PARTICIPANTS: Inclusion criteria were office BP 150/95¿mmHg or less and daytime ambulatory BP 140/90¿mmHg or less, stable pharmacologic or nonpharmacologic antihypertensive treatment, and concomitant chronic osteoarticular pain. INTERVENTIONS: Baseline randomized assignment to 3-week periods of effervescent paracetamol (1¿g three times a day) first and noneffervescent paracetamol later, or inversely, during a 7-week study period. At the start and end of each treatment period, 24-h ambulatory BP monitoring was performed. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Differences in 24-h SBP between baseline and end of both treatment periods. The main analyses were performed according to the intention-to-treat principle. RESULTS: In intention-to-treat analysis, 46 patients were analyzed, 21 were treated with paracetamol effervescent and noneffervescent later, and 25 followed the opposite sequence. The difference in 24-h SBP between the two treatments was 3.99¿mmHg (95% confidence interval 1.35-6.63; P¿=¿0.004), higher in the effervescent paracetamol treatment period. Similarly, the per-protocol analysis showed a difference in 24-h SBP between the two groups of 5.04¿mmHg (95% confidence interval 1.80-8.28; P¿=¿0.004), higher in the effervescent paracetamol treatment period. Self-reported pain levels did not differ between groups and did not vary by treatment period. No serious adverse events were reported in either study arm. CONCLUSION: Effervescent paracetamol tablets are responsible for a significant daytime and overall increase in ambulatory 24-h SBP. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT: 02514538 EudraCT: 2010-023485-53.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Integrated analysis of microRNA and mRNA expression and association with HIF binding reveals the complexity of microRNA expression regulation under hypoxia.

BACKGROUND: In mammalians, HIF is a master regulator of hypoxia gene expression through direct binding to DNA, while its role in microRNA expression regulation, critical in the hypoxia response, is not elucidated genome wide. Our aim is to investigate in depth the regulation of microRNA expression by hypoxia in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7, establish the relationship between microRNA expression and HIF binding sites, pri-miRNA transcription and microRNA processing gene expression. METHODS: MCF-7 cells were incubated at 1% Oxygen for 16, 32 and 48 h. SiRNA against HIF-1α and HIF-2α were performed as previously published. MicroRNA and mRNA expression were assessed using microRNA microarrays, small RNA sequencing, gene expression microarrays and Real time PCR. The Kraken pipeline was applied for microRNA-seq analysis along with Bioconductor packages. Microarray data was analysed using Limma (Bioconductor), ChIP-seq data were analysed using Gene Set Enrichment Analysis and multiple testing correction applied in all analyses. RESULTS: Hypoxia time course microRNA sequencing data analysis identified 41 microRNAs significantly up- and 28 down-regulated, including hsa-miR-4521, hsa-miR-145-3p and hsa-miR-222-5p reported in conjunction with hypoxia for the first time. Integration of HIF-1α and HIF-2α ChIP-seq data with expression data showed overall association between binding sites and microRNA up-regulation, with hsa-miR-210-3p and microRNAs of miR-27a/23a/24-2 and miR-30b/30d clusters as predominant examples. Moreover the expression of hsa-miR-27a-3p and hsa-miR-24-3p was found positively associated to a hypoxia gene signature in breast cancer. Gene expression analysis showed no full coordination between pri-miRNA and microRNA expression, pointing towards additional levels of regulation. Several transcripts involved in microRNA processing were found regulated by hypoxia, of which DICER (down-regulated) and AGO4 (up-regulated) were HIF dependent. DICER expression was found inversely correlated to hypoxia in breast cancer. CONCLUSIONS: Integrated analysis of microRNA, mRNA and ChIP-seq data in a model cell line supports the hypothesis that microRNA expression under hypoxia is regulated at transcriptional and post-transcriptional level, with the presence of HIF binding sites at microRNA genomic loci associated with up-regulation. The identification of hypoxia and HIF regulated microRNAs relevant for breast cancer is important for our understanding of disease development and design of therapeutic interventions

Un Practicum per a la formació de mestres innovadors, reflexius i crítics

En aquesta comunicació es presenta una experiència feta amb alumnes de formació inicial de magisteri que es troben ja en el tercer curs. Especialitat Educació Primària. Es pretén dissenyar un model que faciliti la formació de mestres reflexius i decidits per una metodologia innovadora. És un projecte interdisciplinar en el que participen professors i professores de diferents Departaments. Davant alguns dels problemes detectats en l'assignatura de pràctiques pels quals s'observava la tendència, en ocasions de fer que els alumnes adquirissin pràctiques tradicionals que veien a l'escola, s'ha buscat la possibilitat de fer projectes d'innovació a les escoles i relacionar-los amb la rebuda d'alumnes de pràctiques . En aquesta comunicació s'explica el funcionament del projecte que és molt ampli, ja que hi participen 11 professors i professores de l'Especialitat i dos exemples de la realització del projecte a les escoles

The complete costs of genome sequencing: a microcosting study in cancer and rare diseases from a single center in the United Kingdom

Abstract: Purpose: The translation of genome sequencing into routine health care has been slow, partly because of concerns about affordability. The aspirational cost of sequencing a genome is $1000, but there is little evidence to support this estimate. We estimate the cost of using genome sequencing in routine clinical care in patients with cancer or rare diseases. Methods: We performed a microcosting study of Illumina-based genome sequencing in a UK National Health Service laboratory processing 399 samples/year. Cost data were collected for all steps in the sequencing pathway, including bioinformatics analysis and reporting of results. Sensitivity analysis identified key cost drivers. Results: Genome sequencing costs £6841 per cancer case (comprising matched tumor and germline samples) and £7050 per rare disease case (three samples). The consumables used during sequencing are the most expensive component of testing (68–72$1000/genome in a single laboratory. This aspirational sequencing cost will likely only be achieved if consumable costs are considerably reduced and sequencing is performed at scale