A New Methodology to Construct a Database of World University Exams

[EN] How can we improve the homogenization of university education around the world? This is the central question of our research. In order to answer it, we focus on the classic tool used to evaluate students: exams. The aim of our paper is to establish a methodology with which to construct a database of world university exams by academic field. The database would be available to professors and students worldwide, and both categories could use it to contrast their level in a certain subject. In this sense, our proposal aims to achieve two objectives: 1) to maximize the effectiveness of exams as a measurement of students´ knowledge; 2) to use exams as a tool to homogenize education within universities in a certain academic field.Pinar-Pérez, JM.; Fernandez-Moya, M.; Cuadros-Solas, P.; Salvador, C.; Morales-Arsenal, R. (2021). A New Methodology to Construct a Database of World University Exams. En Proceedings INNODOCT/20. International Conference on Innovation, Documentation and Education. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 89-94. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2020.2020.11822OCS899

Mitigating deficiencies of generation Z through new educational methodologies in a business statistic course

[EN] Nowadays, most of the students in first course at University are from the socalled Generation Z. Since a young age, these students have been used digital technology such as internet, mobile phones, tablets and laptops developing certain skills. But a large majority of these students have some deficiencies such as low knowledge of mathematics, scarce levels of motivation, concentration or logical reasoning and little patience (they want to understand everything quickly). These characteristics must be improved being a hard work to do by teachers. New educational methodologies are being adapted taking into account these digital skills and mitigating the deficiencies observed in some students. This paper presents an analysis of the impact of using new methodological techniques in a business statistics course. The work focuses on the problem of increase the student´s motivation through the use of new digital tools such as video-lessons, screencasts and flipped classroom combined with neuroeducation techniques. Our hypothesis is mitigating the deficiencies of students through increasing their motivation. A multiple linear regression model to a set of students is carried out. Empirical results show, in general, that females take advantage of this methodology implemented better than males. Moreover, students with “good” performance reach better outputs (higher final score and a deeper knowledge of the subject) if additional methodological tools are implemented in the traditional class. While, there is not improvement for “bad” students.Pinar-Pérez, JM.; Morales-Arsenal, R.; Fernandez-Moya, M.; Cuadros-Solas, P.; Salvador, C. (2021). Mitigating deficiencies of generation Z through new educational methodologies in a business statistic course. En Proceedings INNODOCT/20. International Conference on Innovation, Documentation and Education. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 81-88. https://doi.org/10.4995/INN2020.2020.11821OCS818

Modelo de seguridad de datos en un entorno de big data en el sector financiero

El constante crecimiento de ataques de ciberdelincuentes sobre los activos de una organización genera como resultado que las organizaciones comiencen a invertir y preocuparse más por sus puntos de ciberseguridad y controles. Así, el manejo y gestión de datos críticos para el negocio es un punto importante para el cual se debe contemplar controles robustos de ciberseguridad. Dentro del proyecto se tiene en cuenta la identificación de brechas de seguridad sobre un repositorio analítico, un análisis de riesgos de ciberseguridad, diseño de componentes de seguridad y una evaluación de riesgos inherentes sobre los datos de alta criticidad en un repositorio analítico de una entidad regulada. Para identificar las brechas de ciberseguridad sobre las plataformas analíticas debemos entender que Big Data genero recientes problemas que no solo están vinculados con el volumen o la variedad de los datos, sino también con la seguridad y privacidad de los datos (Julio Moreno & Manuel Serrano, 2016). El proyecto por presentar tiene como inicio la necesidad de contar con un modelo de seguridad de datos en un entorno analítico de Big Data del sector financiero. El proyecto fue planteado frente a la situación actual de los riesgos y vulnerabilidades de ciberseguridad que existen sobre los datos sensibles y el control que necesitan las plataformas analíticas en un sector regulado como el financiero.The increase in attacks by cybercriminals on an organization's assets results in organizations starting to invest in and care more about their cybersecurity points and controls. Therefore, the handling and management of business-critical data is an important point for which robust cybersecurity controls should be considered. The project takes into account the identification of security gaps in an analytical repository, an analysis of cybersecurity risks, design of security components and an assessment of risks inherent to highly critical data in an analytical repository of a regulated entity. To identify cybersecurity gaps in analytical platforms, we must understand that Big Data generated new problems not only related to the volume or variety of data, but also to data security and privacy (Julio Moreno & Manuel Serrano, 2016). The principle of this project is the need to have a data security model in a Big Data analytical environment of the financial sector. It was raised in light of the current situation of cybersecurity risks and vulnerabilities that exist on sensitive data and the control that analytical platforms need in a regulated sector such as the financial sector.Trabajo de investigació

Metabolic Profiling at COVID-19 Onset Shows Disease Severity and Sex-Specific Dysregulation

Background: metabolic changes through SARS-CoV-2 infection has been reported but not fully comprehended. This metabolic dysregulation affects multiple organs during COVID-19 and its early detection can be used as a prognosis marker of severity. Therefore, we aimed to characterize metabolic and cytokine profile at COVID-19 onset and its relationship with disease severity to identify metabolic profiles predicting disease progression. Material and methods: we performed a retrospective cross-sectional study in 123 COVID-19 patients which were stratified as asymptomatic/mild, moderate and severe according to the highest COVID-19 severity status, and a group of healthy controls. We performed an untargeted plasma metabolic profiling (gas chromatography and capillary electrophoresis-mass spectrometry (GC and CE-MS)) and cytokine evaluation. Results: After data filtering and identification we observed 105 metabolites dysregulated (66 GC-MS and 40 CE-MS) which shown different expression patterns for each COVID-19 severity status. These metabolites belonged to different metabolic pathways including amino acid, energy, and nitrogen metabolism among others. Severity-specific metabolic dysregulation was observed, as an increased transformation of L-tryptophan into L-kynurenine. Thus, metabolic profiling at hospital admission differentiate between severe and moderate patients in the later phase of worse evolution. Several plasma pro-inflammatory biomarkers showed significant correlation with deregulated metabolites, specially with L-kynurenine and L-tryptophan. Finally, we describe a strong sex-related dysregulation of metabolites, cytokines and chemokines between severe and moderate patients. In conclusion, metabolic profiling of COVID-19 patients at disease onset is a powerful tool to unravel the SARS-CoV-2 molecular pathogenesis. Conclusions: This technique makes it possible to identify metabolic phenoconversion that predicts disease progression and explains the pronounced pathogenesis differences between sexes.This study was supported by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII; grant number COV20/1144 (MPY224/20) to AF-R/MJ-S). The study was also funded by CIBER - Consorcio Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red - (CB 2021; CB21/13/00044), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación and Unión Europea - NextGenerationEU. AF-R and MJ-S are Miguel Servet researchers supported and funded by ISCIII (grant numbers: CP14CIII/00010 to AFR and CP17CIII/00007 to MJ-S). Universidad Alfonso X el Sabio, grant number 1.013.005S

Recent studies in microbial degradation of petroleum hydrocarbons in hypersaline environments

Many hypersaline environments are often contaminated with petroleum compounds. Among these, oil and natural gas production sites all over the world and hundreds of kilometers of coastlines in the more arid regions of Gulf countries are of major concern due to the extent and magnitude of contamination. Because conventional microbiological processes do not function well at elevated salinities, bioremediation of hypersaline environments can only be accomplished using high salt-tolerant microorganisms capable of degrading petroleum compounds. In the last two decades, there have been many reports on the biodegradation of hydrocarbons in moderate to high salinity environments. Numerous microorganisms belonging to the domain Bacteria and Archaea have been isolated and their phylogeny and metabolic capacity to degrade a variety of aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons in varying salinities have been demonstrated. This article focuses on our growing understanding of bacteria and archaea responsible for the degradation of hydrocarbons under aerobic conditions in moderate to high salinity conditions. Even though organisms belonging to various genera have been shown to degrade hydrocarbons, members of the genera Halomonas Alcanivorax, Marinobacter, Haloferax, Haloarcula, and Halobacterium dominate the published literature. Despite rapid advances in understanding microbial taxa that degrade hydrocarbons under aerobic conditions, not much is known about organisms that carry out similar processes in anaerobic conditions. Also, information on molecular mechanisms and pathways of hydrocarbon degradation in high salinity is scarce and only recently there have been a few reports describing genes, enzymes and breakdown steps for some hydrocarbons. These limited studies have clearly revealed that degradation of oxygenated and non-oxygenated hydrocarbons by halophilic and halotolerant microorganisms occur by pathways similar to those found in non-halophiles.Peer reviewedMicrobiology and Molecular Genetic

Neurocognition and quality of life after reinitiating antiretroviral therapy in children randomized to planned treatment interruption

Objective: Understanding the effects of antiretroviral treatment (ART) interruption on neurocognition and quality of life (QoL) are important for managing unplanned interruptions and planned interruptions in HIV cure research. Design: Children previously randomized to continuous (continuous ART, n=41) vs. planned treatment interruption (PTI, n=47) in the Pediatric European Network for Treatment of AIDS (PENTA) 11 study were enrolled. At study end, PTI children resumed ART. At 1 and 2 years following study end, children were assessed by the coding, symbol search and digit span subtests of Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (6-16 years old) or Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale ( 6517 years old) and by Pediatrics QoL questionnaires for physical and psychological QoL. Transformed scaled scores for neurocognition and mean standardized scores for QoL were compared between arms by t-test and Mann-Whitney U test, respectively. Scores indicating clinical concern were compared (<7 for neurocognition and <70 for QoL tests). Results: Characteristics were similar between arms with a median age of 12.6 years, CD4 + of 830 cells/\u3bcl and HIV RNA of 1.7 log 10 copies/ml. The median cumulative ART exposure was 9.6 in continuous ART vs. 7.7 years in PTI (P=0.02). PTI children had a median of 12 months off ART and had resumed ART for 25.2 months at time of first assessment. Neurocognitive scores were similar between arms for all tests. Physical and psychological QoL scores were no different. About 40% had low neurocognitive and QoL scores indicating clinical concern. Conclusion: No differences in information processing speed, sustained attention, short-term memory and QoL functioning were observed between children previously randomized to continuous ART vs. PTI in the PENTA 11 trial

Quality of life in sarcopenia measured with the SarQoL questionnaire: A meta-analysis of individual patient data.

peer reviewedAge-related sarcopenia, resulting from a gradual loss in skeletal muscle mass and strength, is pivotal to the increased prevalence of functional limitation among the older adult community. The purpose of this meta-analysis of individual patient data is to investigate the difference in health-related quality of life between sarcopenic individuals and those without the condition using the Sarcopenia Quality of Life (SarQoL) questionnaire. A protocol was published on PROSPERO. Multiple databases and the grey literature were searched until March 2023 for studies reporting quality of life assessed with the SarQoL for patients with and without sarcopenia. Two researchers conducted the systematic review independently. A two-stage meta-analysis was performed. First, crude (mean difference) and adjusted (beta coefficient) effect sizes were calculated within each database; then, a random effect meta-analysis was applied to pool them. Heterogeneity was measured using the Q-test and I2 value. Subgroup analyses were performed to investigate the source of potential heterogeneity. The strength of evidence of this association was assessed using GRADE. From the 413 studies identified, 32 were eventually included, of which 10 were unpublished data studies. Sarcopenic participants displayed significantly reduced health-related quality of life compared with non-sarcopenic individuals (mean difference = -12.32; 95 % CI = [-15.27; -9.37]). The model revealed significant heterogeneity. Subgroup analyses revealed a substantial impact of regions, clinical settings, and diagnostic criteria on the difference in health-related quality of life between sarcopenic and non-sarcopenic individuals. The level of evidence was moderate. This meta-analysis of individual patient data suggested that sarcopenia is associated with lower health-related quality of life measured with SarQoL

Advances in structure elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry

The structural elucidation of small molecules using mass spectrometry plays an important role in modern life sciences and bioanalytical approaches. This review covers different soft and hard ionization techniques and figures of merit for modern mass spectrometers, such as mass resolving power, mass accuracy, isotopic abundance accuracy, accurate mass multiple-stage MS(n) capability, as well as hybrid mass spectrometric and orthogonal chromatographic approaches. The latter part discusses mass spectral data handling strategies, which includes background and noise subtraction, adduct formation and detection, charge state determination, accurate mass measurements, elemental composition determinations, and complex data-dependent setups with ion maps and ion trees. The importance of mass spectral library search algorithms for tandem mass spectra and multiple-stage MS(n) mass spectra as well as mass spectral tree libraries that combine multiple-stage mass spectra are outlined. The successive chapter discusses mass spectral fragmentation pathways, biotransformation reactions and drug metabolism studies, the mass spectral simulation and generation of in silico mass spectra, expert systems for mass spectral interpretation, and the use of computational chemistry to explain gas-phase phenomena. A single chapter discusses data handling for hyphenated approaches including mass spectral deconvolution for clean mass spectra, cheminformatics approaches and structure retention relationships, and retention index predictions for gas and liquid chromatography. The last section reviews the current state of electronic data sharing of mass spectra and discusses the importance of software development for the advancement of structure elucidation of small molecules