Intuition and experimentation as teaching tools: physical and interactive computational models

Structural design and analysis is generally not the favourite subject among architecture students, who find it hard to assimilate abstract structural concepts expressed in complex formulae, whose translation to specific structural phenomena and application are not clear to them. This paper presents a teaching innovation project that seeks to include intuition and experimentation in the learning of concepts related to the buildings’ structural behaviour. Direct experimentation allows a better understanding and assimilation of concepts and increases motivation. The idea is to “take the laboratory to the classroom” through physical models that the students can build and test. These models are specially designed for the visual, intuitive, and clear explanation of one or several structural concepts. The combination of these physical models with the development of interactive, computational structural models based on graphic statics allows the students to predict the behaviour of the proposed structure and immediately check the correction of their prediction with the physical model. The geometry-based approach to the teaching of the structures through graphic statics, together with the use of the parametric models and the experimentation with physical models result in an intuitive, interactive and easy-to-understand method for the teaching of structures. Furthermore, the experimental and visual character of these teaching activities makes them more appealing for architecture students and results in a higher motivation and participation in the classes, which, in turn, comes with higher academic performance and grades.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Las antologías en la literatura infantil y juvenil gallega como instrumentos didácticos en la enseñanza

La estrecha relación establecida entre la literatura infantil y juvenil y la institución escolar se manifiesta, especialmente, en los distintos textos literarios que han servido para el trabajo y formación en las aulas, entre los que destacan las antologías. Con la finalidad de profundizar en el tema, realizamos un repaso por las distintas antologías de la literatura infantil y juvenil gallega, que aparecieron desde la década de los años ochenta. Las descripciones de cada uno de estos volúmenes se complementan con una serie de pertinentes comentarios sobre su evolución a lo largo del tiempo y sobre su incidencia y empleo en el ámbito escolar. Posteriormente, se evalúa el tratamiento de estas manifestaciones textuales por parte de la recepción crítica y se exponen las conclusiones generales, que acusan la existencia de un volumen reducido de antologías y, a su vez, de poca variación en los modelos adoptados, prevaleciendo los que atienden a entidades autoriales y los que hacen una selección del conjunto de la producción del sistema literario, pese al gran aprovechamiento del que este tipo de publicaciones podría ser objeto en el medio escolar.The close relationship between books for children and young people and schools can be seen in the different literary texts that have been used in the classroom, particularly anthologies. In order to analyse it, we will study the different anthologies of galician literature for children and young people published since the eighties. The description of each of these volumes is accompanied by relevant comments on its evolution, importance and use in the classroom. The critical treatment that these texts have received is also examined before reaching the general conclusions: there is a small number of anthologies and little variation of models, prevailing the ones based on writers and the ones that make a selection of the production of the galician literary system, in spite of the very good use that can be made of these publications in the classroom

Human bones tell the story of atmospheric mercury and lead exposure at the edge of Roman World

We thank Museo de Pontevedra and Dirección Xeral de Patrimonio Xuntade Galicia for providing access to skeletal collections. OLC is funded by ED481D 2017/014Xunta de Galicia. This work was supported bythe projects: Galician Paleodiet (ED481D 2017/014), Consiliencia network (ED 431D2017/08), GPC (ED431B 2018/20) all funded by Xunta de Galicia.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Serum Mg isotopic composition reveals that Mg dyshomeostasis remains in type 1 diabetes despite the resolution of hypomagnesemia

Hypomagnesemia was historically prevalent in individuals with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM), but contemporary results indicate an incidence comparable to that in the general population, likely due to improved treatment in recent decades, resulting in better glycemic control. However, a recent study found a significant difference between the serum Mg isotopic composition of T1DM individuals and controls, indicating that disruptions to Mg homeostasis persist. Significant deviations were also found in samples taken one year apart. To investigate whether the temporal variability in serum Mg isotopic composition is linked to the transient impact of administered insulin, Mg isotope ratios were determined in serum from 15 T1DM individuals before and one hour after insulin injection/meal consumption using multi-collector inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Consistent with results of the previous study, significant difference in the serum Mg isotopic composition was found between T1DM individuals and 10 sex-matched controls. However, the average difference between pre- and post-insulin injection/meal T1DM samples of 0.05 ± 0.13‰ (1SD) was not significant. No difference was observed for controls before (−0.12 ± 0.16‰) and after the meal (−0.10 ± 0.13‰) either, suggesting a lack of a postprandial Mg isotopic response within one hour of food consumption, and that the timing of the most recent meal may not require controlling for when determining serum Mg isotopic composition

Cu, Fe, and Zn isotope ratios in murine Alzheimer's disease models suggest specific signatures of amyloidogenesis and tauopathy

Acknowledgments—A.H.E-K thanks Maren Koenig and Dorit Becker for their support in sample preparation. The authors thank Prof. Gernot Riedel, Dr Silke Frahm, and Mandy Magbagbeolu for help with mouse perfusion and harvesting of the brain tissues. Funding and additional information—This work was carried out in the context of the EMPIR research project 15HLT02 (ReMiND). This project has received funding from the EMPIR programme cofinanced by the Participating States and from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Identification of emerging hazards in mussels by the Galician Emerging Food Safety Risks Network (RISEGAL). A first approach

Emerging risk identification is a priority for the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The goal of the Galician Emerging Food Safety Risks Network (RISEGAL) is the identification of emerging risks in foods produced and commercialized in Galicia (northwest Spain) in order to propose prevention plans and mitigation strategies. In this work, RISEGAL applied a systematic approach for the identification of emerging food safety risks potentially affecting bivalve shellfish. First, a comprehensive review of scientific databases was carried out to identify hazards most quoted as emerging in bivalves in the period 2016–2018. Then, identified hazards were semiquantitatively assessed by a panel of food safety experts, who scored them accordingly with the five evaluation criteria proposed by EFSA: novelty, soundness, imminence, scale, and severity. Scores determined that perfluorinated compounds, antimicrobial resistance, Vibrio parahaemolyticus, hepatitis E virus (HEV), and antimicrobial residues are the emerging hazards that are considered most imminent and severe and that could cause safety problems of the highest scale in the bivalve value chain by the majority of the experts consulted (75%). Finally, in a preliminary way, an exploratory study carried out in the Galician Rías highlighted the presence of HEV in mussels cultivated in class B production areas.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

BiP Heterozigosity Aggravates Pathological Deterioration in Experimental Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

In the present study, we investigated the involvement of the chaperone protein BiP (also known as GRP78 or Hspa5), a master regulator of intracellular proteostasis, in two mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). To this end, we used mice bearing partial genetic deletion of the BiP gene (BiP+/− mice), which, for the ALS model, were crossed with mutant SOD1 (mSOD1) transgenic mice to generate mSOD1/BiP+/− double mutant mice. Our data revealed a more intense neurological decline in the double mutants, reflected in a greater deterioration of the neurological score and rotarod performance, with also a reduced animal survival, compared to mSOD1 transgenic mice. Such worsening was associated with higher microglial (labelled with Iba-1 immunostaining) and, to a lesser extent, astroglial (labelled with GFAP immunostaining) immunoreactivities found in the double mutants, but not with a higher loss of spinal motor neurons (labelled with Nissl staining) in the spinal cord. The morphological analysis of Iba-1 and GFAP-positive cells revealed a higher presence of activated cells, characterized by elevated cell body size and shorter processes, in double mutants compared to mSOD1 mice with normal BiP expression. In the case of the PD model, BiP+/− mice were unilaterally lesioned with the parkinsonian neurotoxin 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA). In this case, however, we did not detect a greater susceptibility to damage in mutant mice, as the motor defects caused by 6-OHDA in the pole test and the cylinder rearing test, as well as the losses in tyrosine hydroxylase-containing neurons and the elevated glial reactivity (labelled with CD68 and GFAP immunostaining) detected in the substantia nigra were of similar magnitude in BiP+/− mice compared with wildtype animals. Therefore, our findings support the view that a dysregulation of the protein BiP may contribute to ALS pathogenesis. As BiP has been recently related to cannabinoid type-1 (CB1) receptor function, our work also opens the door to future studies on a possible link between BiP and the neuroprotective effects of cannabinoids that have been widely reported in this neuropathological context. In support of this possibility, preliminary data indicate that CB1 receptor levels are significantly reduced in mSOD1 mice having partial deletion of BiP gene

Arqueología en la ACEGA 2: el área arqueológica de O Peto (Vedra, A Coruña)

Cadernos de Arqueoloxía e Patrimonio (CAPA)[EN] The archaeological area of O Peto was discovered during the construction of the highway Santiago-Alto de Santo de Domingo. This site shows the existence of archaeological structures near of the galician Iron Age hillforts. In fact O Peto is an artificialized space (where a set of several structures was exhumed) that belongs to a prerroman iron mining complex that suffered several changes in the beginning of Romanization.[ES] El área arqueológica de O Peto se descubrió durante el control arqueológico de la construcción de la Autopista Santiago-Alto de Santo Domingo. Se trata de un ejemplo significativo de la existencia de estructuras anejas en el entorno inmediato del recinto habitacional de los castros de la Edad del Hierro. Constituye un espacio claramente artificializado en el que se superponen estructuras excavadas en la roca, de naturaleza y finalidad diferentes. A este respecto se configura un espacio construido –aparentemente multifuncional- que experimentó sucesivos procesos de ampliación, redefinición, sellado intencionado y abandono entre la Edad del Hierro y Época Romana. La información aportada por la excavación indica que este yacimiento albergó un complejo minerometalúrgico caracterizado tecnológicamente por la utilización de hornos bajos prerromanos sin sangrado de escoria que procesarían el mineral extraído en el propio yacimiento.Proyecto financiado por la Dirección Xeral de Investigación e Desenvolvemento da Consellería de Innovación, Industria e Comercio (Xunta de Galicia) con cargo a la convocatoria Programa de Tecnoloxías para a Innovación- Tecnoloxías da Construcción e da Conservación do Patrimonio do ano 2004. Código de Proxecto: PGIDIT04CCP606003PRPeer reviewe

Arqueología en la ACEGA 2: el área arqueológica de O Peto (Vedra, A Coruña)

Cadernos de Arqueoloxía e Patrimonio (CAPA)[EN] The archaeological area of O Peto was discovered during the construction of the highway Santiago-Alto de Santo de Domingo. This site shows the existence of archaeological structures near of the galician Iron Age hillforts. In fact O Peto is an artificialized space (where a set of several structures was exhumed) that belongs to a prerroman iron mining complex that suffered several changes in the beginning of Romanization.[ES] El área arqueológica de O Peto se descubrió durante el control arqueológico de la construcción de la Autopista Santiago-Alto de Santo Domingo. Se trata de un ejemplo significativo de la existencia de estructuras anejas en el entorno inmediato del recinto habitacional de los castros de la Edad del Hierro. Constituye un espacio claramente artificializado en el que se superponen estructuras excavadas en la roca, de naturaleza y finalidad diferentes. A este respecto se configura un espacio construido –aparentemente multifuncional- que experimentó sucesivos procesos de ampliación, redefinición, sellado intencionado y abandono entre la Edad del Hierro y Época Romana. La información aportada por la excavación indica que este yacimiento albergó un complejo minerometalúrgico caracterizado tecnológicamente por la utilización de hornos bajos prerromanos sin sangrado de escoria que procesarían el mineral extraído en el propio yacimiento.Proyecto financiado por la Dirección Xeral de Investigación e Desenvolvemento da Consellería de Innovación, Industria e Comercio (Xunta de Galicia) con cargo a la convocatoria Programa de Tecnoloxías para a Innovación- Tecnoloxías da Construcción e da Conservación do Patrimonio do ano 2004. Código de Proxecto: PGIDIT04CCP606003PRPeer reviewe

An Integrated Approach for the Early Detection of Endometrial and Ovarian Cancers (Screenwide Study): Rationale, Study Design and Pilot Study

Screenwide is a case-control study (2017-2021) including women with incident endometrial and ovarian cancers (EC and OC), BRCA1/2 and MMR pathogenic variant carriers, and age-matched controls from three centers in Spain. Participants completed a personal interview on their sociodemographic factors, occupational exposure, medication, lifestyle, and medical history. We collected biological specimens, including blood samples, self-collected vaginal specimens, cervical pap-brush samples, uterine specimens, and, when available, tumor samples. The planned analyses included evaluation of the potential risk factors for EC/OC; evaluation of molecular biomarkers in minimally invasive samples; evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of molecular tests; and the generation of predictive scores to integrate different epidemiologic, clinical, and molecular factors. Overall, 182 EC, 69 OC, 98 BRCA pathogenic variant carriers, 104 MMR pathogenic variant carriers, and 385 controls were enrolled. The overall participation rate was 85.7%. The pilot study using 61 samples from nine EC cases and four controls showed that genetic variants at the variant allele fraction > 5% found in tumors (n = 61 variants across the nine tumors) were detected in paired endometrial aspirates, clinician-collected cervical samples, and vaginal self-samples with detection rates of 90% (55/61), 79% (48/61), and 72% (44/61) by duplex sequencing, respectively. Among the controls, only one somatic mutation was detected in a cervical sample. We enrolled more than 800 women to evaluate new early detection strategies. The preliminary data suggest that our methodological approach could be useful for the early detection of gynecological cancers