Actitudes y expectativas del uso educativo de las redes sociales en los alumnos universitarios

Les xarxes socials, que els últims anys han comportat una autèntica revolució en la manera de relacionar-se, encara continuen essent poc presents en l'àmbit acadèmic: les ocasions en què es fan servir són aïllades i poques tenen continuïtat. En aquest context, volem reflexionar sobre l'actitud que els mateixos estudiants tenen envers l'ús, l'aprofitament didàctic i les potencialitats que les xarxes socials presenten en l'àmbit educatiu. Per a aquesta reflexió ens hem valgut d'una enquesta feta entre els estudiants. La intenció és que l'estudi d'aquesta actitud inicial sigui el pas previ necessari per a trobar les claus perquè l'alumnat accepti i materialitzi el potencial educatiu de les xarxes socials.In the last few years, social networks have revolutionised the way in which many people relate to each other, but their use is still very limited in the academic field. When they are used, the experiences tend to be very isolated and lacking in continuity. In this context, and by means of a questionnaire, our objective is to bring an element of reflection on students' attitudes towards the use of social networks in general, and their use and potential in an educational context in particular. The aim is to compel students to think about these attitudes as a vital first step in getting them to accept and realise the educational potential of social networks.Las redes sociales, que en los últimos años han supuesto una auténtica revolución en la forma de relacionarse, todavía siguen siendo algo poco presente en el ámbito académico: las ocasiones en que se utilizan son aisladas y pocas gozan de continuidad. En ese contexto, pretendemos reflexionar acerca de la actitud que los propios estudiantes tienen con respecto del uso, del aprovechamiento didáctico y de las potencialidades que las redes sociales presentan en el ámbito educativo. Para esta reflexión nos hemos valido de una encuesta realizada entre los estudiantes. La intención es que el estudio de esta actitud inicial sea el paso previo necesario para hallar las claves para que el alumnado acepte y materialice el potencial educativo de las redes sociales

Social networks and higher education: The attitudes of university students towards the educational use of social networks, back to test

In a context in which social networks continue to advance in its social use, this study aims to investigate the attitudes of university students towards the educational use of social networks. Through a questionnaire we have interrogated a sample (N = 141) of new students on their knowledge and use of social networks, in their personal and academic lives. Our main results certify that students use much social networks in their personal life but not in their academic tasks, partly because of the lack of initiative of teachers to use them. In any case, no major misgivings for their incorporation are observed, and attitudes are generally better than those documented in previous studies. Therefore, we can proceed to incorporate social networks normally into university life.En un contexto en que las redes sociales siguen avanzando en su uso social, este estudio se propone investigar acerca de las actitudes de los estudiantes universitarios hacia el uso educativo de las redes sociales. Por medio de un cuestionario, se interroga a una muestra (N=141) de estudiantes de nuevo acceso sobre su conocimiento y su uso de las redes sociales, en la vida personal y académica. Los principales resultados certifican que los estudiantes usan mucho las redes sociales en la vida personal pero no en la vida académica, en parte debido a la falta de iniciativa de los profesores en su uso. En cualquier caso, no se observan grandes reservas en el alumnado acerca de la bondad de su incorporación, y las actitudes son generalmente mejores que las documentados en estudios previos. Por lo tanto, podemos proceder a incorporar las redes sociales en la vida universitaria con normalidad

Hypoxia triggers IFN-I production in muscle: Implications in dermatomyositis

Dermatomyositis is an inflammatory myopathy characterized by symmetrical proximal muscle weakness and skin changes. Muscle biopsy hallmarks include perifascicular atrophy, loss of intramuscular capillaries, perivascular and perimysial inflammation and the overexpression of IFN-inducible genes. Among them, the retinoic-acid inducible gene 1 (RIG-I) is specifically overexpressed in perifascicular areas of dermatomyositis muscle. The aim of this work was to study if RIG-I expression may be modulated by hypoxia using an in vitro approach. We identified putative hypoxia response elements (HRE) in RIG-I regulatory regions and luciferase assays confirmed that RIG-I is a new HIF-inducible gene. We observed an increase expression of RIG-I both by Real time PCR and Western blot in hypoxic conditions in human muscle cells. Cell transfection with a constitutive RIG-I expression vector increased levels of phospho-IRF-3, indicating that RIG-I promotes binding of transcription factors to the enhancer sequence of IFN. Moreover, release of IFN-beta was observed in hypoxic conditions. Finally, HIF-1 alpha overexpression was confirmed in the muscle biopsies and in some RIG-I positive perifascicular muscle fibres but not in controls. Our results indicate that hypoxia triggers the production of IFN-I in vitro, and may contribute to the pathogenesis of DM together with other inflammatory factors

IgG4 Valency Modulates the Pathogenicity of Anti-Neurofascin-155 IgG4 in Autoimmune Nodopathy

Altres ajuts: Agence Nationale pour la Recherche; Association Française contre les Myopathies (23593).Background and Objective s : IgG4 autoantibodies to neurofascin-155 (Nfasc155) are associated with a subgroup of patients with chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy (CIDP), currently named autoimmune nodopathy. We previously demonstrated that those antibodies alter conduction along myelinated axons by inducing Nfasc155 depletion and paranode destruction. In blood, IgG4 have the potency to exchange their moiety with other unrelated IgG4 through a process called Fab-arm exchange (FAE). This process results in functionally monovalent antibodies and may affect the pathogenicity of autoantibodies. Here, we examined this issue and whether FAE is beneficial or detrimental for Nfasc155 autoimmune nodopathy. Methods : The bivalency and monospecificity of anti-Nfasc155 were examined by sandwich ELISA in 10 reactive patients, 10 unreactive CIDP patients, and 10 healthy controls. FAE was induced in vitro using reduced glutathione and unreactive IgG4, and the ratio of the : light chain was monitored. To determine the pathogenic potential of bivalent anti-Nfasc155 IgG4, autoantibodies derived from patients were enzymatically cleaved into monovalent Fab and bivalent F(ab')2 or swapped with unreactive IgG4 and then were injected in neonatal animals. Results : Monospecific bivalent IgG4 against Nfasc155 were detected in the serum of all reactive patients, indicating that a fraction of IgG4 have not undergone FAE in situ. These IgG4 were, nonetheless, capable of engaging into FAE with unreactive IgG4 in vitro, and this decreased the levels of monospecific antibodies and modulated the ratio of the : light chain. When injected in animals, monovalent anti-Nfasc155 Fab did not alter the formation of paranodes; by contrast, both native anti-Nfasc155 IgG4 and F(ab')2 fragments strongly impaired paranode formation. The promotion of FAE with unreactive IgG4 also strongly diminished the pathogenic potential of anti-Nfasc155 IgG4 in animals and decreased IgG4 clustering on Schwann cells. Discussion : Our findings demonstrate that monospecific and bivalent anti-Nfasc155 IgG4 are detected in patients and that those autoantibodies are the pathogenic ones. The transformation of anti-Nfasc155 IgG4 into monovalent Fab or functionally monovalent IgG4 through FAE strongly decreases paranodal alterations. Bivalency thus appears crucial for Nfasc155 clustering and paranode destruction

Factores sociológicos que influyen en el desarrollo de la depresión en las mujeres

Es importante conocer los factores causales de la depresión desde un punto de vista social ya que se olvidan fácilmente en el campo de la salud. Enmarcamos este trabajo dentro de la sociología de la salud, que es una ciencia muy desarrollada en EE.UU. pero muy poco en España. Conocer las causas y consecuencias de la depresión en las mujeres y en cómo los valores, comportamientos, roles y actitudes asignados a las mujeres en nuestra cultura aparecen como factores relacionados con la depresión utilizando el enfoque de género, pero sin dejar de lado en cómo ésta afecta a los hombres.Is important to understand the causal factors of depression from a social standpoint because it is easily forgotten in the health field. We frame this work in the sociology of health, which is a highly developed science in the U.S. but very little on Spain. Try to learn the causes and consequences of depression in women and how the values, behaviours, attitudes and roles assigned to women in our culture are all factors related to depression using the gender approach, but without forgetting how it affects me

Factores sociológicos que influyen en el desarrollo de la depresión en las mujeres

Es importante conocer los factores causales de la depresión desde un punto de vista social ya que se olvidan fácilmente en el campo de la salud. Enmarcamos este trabajo dentro de la sociología de la salud, que es una ciencia muy desarrollada en EE.UU. pero muy poco en España. Conocer las causas y consecuencias de la depresión en las mujeres y en cómo los valores, comportamientos, roles y actitudes asignados a las mujeres en nuestra cultura aparecen como factores relacionados con la depresión utilizando el enfoque de género, pero sin dejar de lado en cómo ésta afecta a los hombres.Is important to understand the causal factors of depression from a social standpoint because it is easily forgotten in the health field. We frame this work in the sociology of health, which is a highly developed science in the U.S. but very little on Spain. Try to learn the causes and consequences of depression in women and how the values, behaviours, attitudes and roles assigned to women in our culture are all factors related to depression using the gender approach, but without forgetting how it affects me

Chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyneuropathy associated with contactin-1 antibodies in a child

A previously healthy 2-year and 9-month old boy was brought to the emergency department for a 6-day history of weakness in the legs and frequent falls, rendering him unable to walk 1 day before admission. He did not have pain, dysphagia, bladder dysfunction, or sensory symptoms. There was no history of trauma, but he developed diarrhea 3 days before symptom onset. Family history was negative for consanguinity or neurologic diseases. At examination, he had bilateral leg weakness requiring substantial aid to walk a few steps and was unable to stand up from the floor. He had absent tendon reflexes in the lower extremities and flexor plantar responses. Strength and reflexes in upper extremities and the rest of the examination were normal. CSF showed a protein concentration of 125 mg/dL (NR: 15-45), with normal white blood cell count and glucose concentration

Nintedanib Reduces Muscle Fibrosis and Improves Muscle Function of the Alpha-Sarcoglycan-Deficient Mice

Sarcoglycanopathies are a group of recessive limb-girdle muscular dystrophies, characterized by progressive muscle weakness. Sarcoglycan deficiency produces instability of the sarcolemma during muscle contraction, leading to continuous muscle fiber injury eventually producing fiber loss and replacement by fibro-adipose tissue. Therapeutic strategies aiming to reduce fibro-adipose expansion could be effective in muscular dystrophies. We report the positive effect of nintedanib in a murine model of alpha-sarcoglycanopathy. We treated 14 Sgca mice, six weeks old, with nintedanib 50 mg/kg every 12 h for 10 weeks and compared muscle function and histology with 14 Sgca mice treated with vehicle and six wild-type littermate mice. Muscle function was assessed using a treadmill and grip strength. A cardiac evaluation was performed by echocardiography and histological study. Structural analysis of the muscles, including a detailed study of the fibrotic and inflammatory processes, was performed using conventional staining and immunofluorescence. In addition, proteomics and transcriptomics studies were carried out. Nintedanib was well tolerated by the animals treated, although we observed weight loss. Sgca mice treated with nintedanib covered a longer distance on the treadmill, compared with non-treated Sgca mice, and showed higher strength in the grip test. Moreover, nintedanib improved the muscle architecture of treated mice, reducing the degenerative area and the fibrotic reaction that was associated with a reversion of the cytokine expression profile. Nintedanib improved muscle function and muscle architecture by reducing muscle fibrosis and degeneration and reverting the chronic inflammatory environment suggesting that it could be a useful therapy for patients with alpha-sarcoglycanopathy