Explorando la "España invisible" de Azorín: propuesta práctica de una ruta literaria sonora

Especialidad: Lengua y literatura¿Qué es la 'España Invisible'? ¿A qué hacía referencia José Martínez Ruiz cuando escribe sobre ella? ¿La podemos comparar con la actual 'España vaciada'? Estas cuestiones, entre muchas otras, serán planteadas y exploradas a través de esta propuesta pedagógica en un formato de trayecto literario sonoro. El presente diseño práctico incitará al lector a reflexionar sobre las inquietudes del escritor de la Generación del 98. Para delinear la ruta literaria, se han seleccionado cuidadosamente fragmentos de las obras del escritor levantino. En cada parada de la ruta, los participantes podrán caminar por el mismo terreno que un día pisó Azorín, observar el mismo paisaje montañoso que él contempló e imaginarse la vida sencilla de las gentes que describe en sus obras. Asimismo, el alumnado podrá deducir a partir de estos textos cómo era la cultura de la España de los siglos XIX y XX, y hacer una comparación de cuán diferente es actualmente. Este enfoque interdisciplinario, que entrelaza materias como la historia, la geografía, la lengua y la literatura, pretende que el alumnado participe activamente con una lectura consciente de los textos. La ruta literaria está diseñada de tal manera que el participante puede percibir los sucesos ordinarios como extraordinarios gracias a su narrativa tan característica.What is the 'Invisible Spain'? What did José Martínez Ruiz refer to when he wrote about it? Can we compare it to today's 'Emptied Spain'(Depopulation of rural areas)? These questions, among many others, will be raised and explored through this pedagogical proposal in the format of a literary podcast journey. This practical design will encourage the reader to reflect on the concerns of Azorín. To outline the literary route, excerpts from the works of the Levantine writer have been carefully selected. At each stop on the route, participants will be able to walk the same ground that Azorín once trod, observe the same mountainous landscape that he gazed upon, and imagine the simple life of the people he describes in his works. Additionally, students will be able to deduce from these texts what the culture of Spain was like in the 19th and 20th centuries, and make a comparison of how different it is today. This interdisciplinary approach, which intertwines subjects such as history, geography, language, and literature, aims to engage students actively with a conscious reading of the texts. The literary route is designed in such a way that participants can perceive ordinary events as extraordinary thanks to his distinctive narrative

How to speak the same language: key ideas from the forum on Catalan wildfire research

Postprint (published version

Automatic pigmented lesion segmentation through a dermoscopy-guided OCT approach for early diagnosis

Early diagnosis of pigmented lesions, specially melanoma, is an unmet clinical need that would help to improve patient prognosis. Apart from histopathological biopsy, the only gold standard non-invasive imaging technique during diagnosis is dermatoscopy (DD). Over the last years, new medical imaging techniques are being developed and Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) has demonstrated to be very helpful on dermatology. OCT is non-invasive and provides in-depth structural microscopic information of the skin in real-time. In comparison with other novel techniques, as Reflectance Confocal Microscopy (RCM), the acquisition time is lower and the field-of-view higher. Hence, consolidated diagnosis techniques and novel imaging modalities can be combined to improve decision making during diagnosis and treatment. With actual methods, the delineation of lesion margins directly on OCT images during early stages of the disease is still really challenging and, at the same time, relevant from a prognosis perspective. This work proposes combining DD and OCT images to take advantage of their complementary information. The goal is to guide lesions delineation on OCT images considering the clinical features on DD images. The developed method applies image processing techniques to DD image to automatically segment the lesion; later, and after a calibration procedure, DD and OCT images become coregistered. In a final step the DD segmentation is transferred into the OCT image. Applying advanced image processing techniques and the proposed strategy of lesion delimitation, histopathological characteristics of the segmented lesion can be studied on OCT images afterwards. This proposal can lead to early, real-time and non-invasive diagnosis of pigmented lesions.This work has been developed thanks to the funding of the ECSEL European project ASTONISH (ID.692470) and Basque Country (Spain) ELKARTEK projects MELAMICS (KK-2016-00036) and MELAMICS II (KK-2017/00041). Special thanks to the dermatologists and personnel of the Cruces University Hospital (Cruces, Spain) and the Basurto University Hospital (Bilbao, Spain) for their collaboration on the generation of the annotated database from real patients

Levels of Bisphenol A and its analogs in nails, saliva, and urine of children: a case control study

Introduction: A growing number of studies link the increase in overweight/ obesity worldwide to exposure to certain environmental chemical pollutants that display obesogenic activity (obesogens). Since exposure to obesogens during the first stages of life has been shown to have a more intense and pronounced effect at lower doses, it is imperative to study their possible effects in childhood. The objective here was to study the association of Bisphenol A (BPA) and 11 BPA analogs in children, using three biological matrices (nails, saliva and urine), and overweight and obesity (n = 160). Methods: In this case–control study, 59 overweight/obese children and 101 controls were included. The measuring of Bisphenols in the matrices was carried out by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Logistic regression was used to study the association between overweight/obesity and Bisphenol exposure. Results: The results suggested that BPF in nails is associated with overweight/ obesity in children (OR:4.87; p = 0.020). In saliva, however, the highest detected concentrations of BPAF presented an inverse association (OR: 0.06; p = 0.010) with overweight/obesity. No associations of statistical significance were detected between exposure to BPA or its other analogs and overweight/obesity in any of the biological matrices.FEDER-Consejería de Salud y Familias’ of the Junta de Andalucía PE-0250-201

Bisphenol A Analogues in Food and Their Hormonal and Obesogenic Effects: A Review

Bisphenol A (BPA) is the most well-known compound from the bisphenol family. As BPA has recently come under pressure, it is being replaced by compounds very similar in structure, but data on the occurrence of these BPA analogues in food and human matrices are limited. The main objective of this work was to investigate human exposure to BPA and analogues and the associated health effects. We performed a literature review of the available research made in humans, in in vivo and in vitro tests. The findings support the idea that exposure to BPA analogues may have an impact on human health, especially in terms of obesity and other adverse health effects in children.This research was funded by Plan Estatal de I+D+I 2013-2016 Proyecto cofinanciado FEDER-ISCIII PI17/01758 and by Fundación Mapfre MAPFRE2018

Factors Associated with Exposure to Dietary Bisphenols in Adolescents

Obesogenic endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as bisphenol A (BPA) and its analogue bisphenol S (BPS), seem to play an important role in the development of obesity, although contradictory results have been reported. The aim of the present study was to conduct a gender analysis of the factors associated with exposure to dietary bisphenols in 585 Spanish adolescents. Dietary BPA and BPS exposure was assessed using a food frequency questionnaire. Foods and macronutrients accounting for more than 95% of energy intake were selected for analysis. Stepwise regression was used to estimate the foods that most contributed to dietary bisphenol exposure in the sample. Gender-related factors associated with greater dietary bisphenol exposure were evaluated using multivariate logistic regression models. Canned tuna was the main dietary source of BPA and BPS in both adolescent boys and girls. Overweight/obese girls showed a higher risk of high dietary exposure to BPA (odds ratio (OR): 3.38, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.25–9.07) and total bisphenols (OR: 2.81, 95% CI: 1.03–7.67) in comparison with girls with a BMI lower than 25 kg/m2 . Present results indicate a positive association of dietary exposure to both total bisphenols and BPA with being overweight/obese in adolescent girls.GP/EFSA/ENCO/380 2018/03/G04: OBEMIRISK: Knowledge platform for assessing the risk of bisphenol on gut microbiota and its role in obesogenic phenotypes: looking for biomarkers’ frameworkPlan Estatal de I + D + I 2013–2016FEDER-ISCIII PI17/01758FEDER-Consejería de Salud y FamiliasJunta de Andalucía PE-0250–2019FEDER-Junta de Andalucía-Consejería de Transformación Económica, Industria, Conocimiento y Universidades/ Proyecto P18-RT-4247Fundación Mapfre MAPFRE201

Melanoma and nevi subtype histopathological characterization with optical coherence tomography

Background: Melanoma incidence has continued to rise in the latest decades, and the forecast is not optimistic. Non-invasive diagnostic imaging techniques such as optical coherence tomography (OCT) are largely studied; however, there is still no agreement on its use for the diagnosis of melanoma. For dermatologists, the differentiation of non-invasive (junctional nevus, compound nevus, intradermal nevus, and melanoma in-situ) versus invasive (superficial spreading melanoma and nodular melanoma) lesions is the key issue in their daily routine. Methods: This work performs a comparative analysis of OCT images using haematoxylin-eosin (HE) and anatomopathological features identified by a pathologist. Then, optical and textural properties are extracted from OCT images with the aim to identify subtle features that could potentially maximize the usefulness of the imaging technique in the identification of the lesion?s potential invasiveness. Results: Preliminary features reveal differences discriminating melanoma in-situ from superficial spreading melanoma and also between melanoma and nevus subtypes that pose a promising baseline for further research. Conclusions: Answering the final goal of diagnosing non-invasive versus invasive lesions with OCT does not seem feasible in the short term, but the obtained results demonstrate a step forward to achieve this.This work has been funded by the Department of Economic Development, Sustainability and the Environment of the Basque Government (Spain) ELKARTEK projects ONKOTOOLS with grant numbers KK-2020/00069, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education CERVERA project AI4ES with grant numbers CER-20211030, and by the ECSEL JU European project ASTONISH with the grant number 692470, UC Industrial Doctorate DI14

Roles of the Taql and Bsml vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in hospital mortality of burn patients

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to evaluate the roles of the Taql and Bsml vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms in hospital mortality of burn patients. METHODS: In total, 105 consecutive burn injury patients over 18 years in age who were admitted to the Burn Unit of Bauru State Hospital from January to December 2013 were prospectively evaluated. Upon admission, patient demographic information was recorded and a blood sample was taken for biochemical analysis to identify the presence of the Taql(rs731236) and Bsml(rs1544410) polymorphisms. All of the patients were followed over their hospital stay and mortality was recorded. RESULTS: Eighteen of the patients did not sign the informed consent form, and there were technical problems with genotype analysis for 7 of the patients. Thus, 80 patients (mean age, 42.5±16.1 years) were included in the final analysis. In total, 60% of the patients were male, and 16.3% died during the hospital stay. The genotype frequencies for the Taql polymorphism were 51.25% TT, 41.25% TC and 7.50% CC; for the Bsml polymorphism, they were 51.25% GG, 42.50% GA and 6.25% AA. In logistic regression analysis, after adjustments for age, gender and total body surface burn area, there were no associations between the Taql (OR: 1.575; CI95%: 0.148-16.745; p=0.706) or Bsml (OR: 1.309; CI95%: 0.128-13.430; p=0.821) polymorphisms and mortality for the burn patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the Taql and Bsml vitamin D receptor gene polymorphisms are not associated with hospital mortality of burn patients