Gestión pedagógica: plan para mejorar procesos didácticos de matemática

The present study was carried out with the objective of proposing a management plan to improve didactic processes of mathematics in teachers in Educational Institutions of the Tumbes fence. The methodology used was quantitative of a basic type, of a descriptive purposeful level, not experimental. The sample represented by 40 teachers who were selected with a non-probabilistic sampling at the convenience of the researcher. The information was collected through a survey supported by a questionnaire that was subjected to a pilot study of 10 teachers, in order to check the writing and understanding of the items and at the same time they were validated by experts through an evaluation matrix for each one the items of the instrument; Cronbach's alpha coefficient was also applied to them to verify their level of reliability. The results reflected that the 40 teachers, 52.5% reflected in the medium level in the didactic processes of mathematics, 25% showed a high level and 22.5% low. Likewise, it was concluded that 55% express a medium level in the dimension of search and execution of strategies; 25% show high level and 20% low level.El presente estudio se realizó con el objetivo de proponer un plan de gestión para mejorar procesos didácticos de matemática en docentes en Instituciones Educativas del cercado de Tumbes. La metodología empleada fue cuantitativa de tipo básica, de nivel descriptivo propositivo, no experimental. La muestra estuvo representada por 40 docentes quienes fueron seleccionados con muestreo no probabilístico a conveniencia del investigador. Se recolectó la información a través de encuesta respaldada por un cuestionario sometido a un estudio piloto de 10 docentes, con la finalidad de comprobar la redacción y comprensión de los ítems y al mismo tiempo fueron validados por expertos mediante una matriz de valoración para cada ítem del instrumento; asimismo se les aplicó el coeficiente Alfa de Cronbach para comprobar su nivel de confiabilidad. Los resultados reflejaron que los 40 docentes, en un 52,5% reflejaron nivel medio en los procesos didácticos de matemática, un 25% manifestaron un nivel alto y un 22,5% nivel bajo. Asimismo, se concluyó que un 55% expresan nivel medio en la dimensión búsqueda y ejecución de estrategias; un 25% manifiestan nivel alto y un 20% nivel bajo

Estimation of lung vital capacity before and after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery: a comparison of incentive spirometer and ventilometry

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Measurement of vital capacity (VC) by spirometry is the most widely used technique for lung function evaluation, however, this form of assessment is costly and further investigation of other reliable methods at lower cost is necessary. Objective: To analyze the correlation between direct vital capacity measured with ventilometer and with incentive inspirometer in patients in pre and post cardiac surgery.</p> <p>Methodology</p> <p>Cross-sectional comparative study with patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Respiratory parameters were evaluated through the measurement of VC performed by ventilometer and inspirometer. To analyze data normality the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was applied, for correlation the Pearson correlation coefficient was used and for comparison of variables in pre and post operative period Student's t test was adopted. We established a level of ignificance of 5%. Data was presented as an average, standard deviation and relative frequency when needed. The significance level was set at 5%.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We studied 52 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, 20 patients in preoperative with VC-ventilometer: 32.95 ± 11.4 ml/kg and VC-inspirometer: 28.9 ± 11 ml/Kg, r = 0.7 p < 0.001. In the post operatory, 32 patients were evaluated with VC-ventilometer: 28.27 ± 12.48 ml/kg and VC-inspirometer: 26.98 ± 11 ml/Kg, r = 0.95 p < 0.001. Presenting a very high correlation between the evaluation forms studied.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>There was a high correlation between DVC measures with ventilometer and incentive spirometer in pre and post CABG surgery. Despite this, arises the necessity of further studies to evaluate the repercussion of this method in lowering costs at hospitals.</p

The Fission Yeast XMAP215 Homolog Dis1p Is Involved in Microtubule Bundle Organization

Microtubules are essential for a variety of fundamental cellular processes such as organelle positioning and control of cell shape. Schizosaccharomyces pombe is an ideal organism for studying the function and organization of microtubules into bundles in interphase cells. Using light microscopy and electron tomography we analyzed the bundle organization of interphase microtubules in S. pombe. We show that cells lacking ase1p and klp2p still contain microtubule bundles. In addition, we show that ase1p is the major determinant of inter-microtubule spacing in interphase bundles since ase1 deleted cells have an inter-microtubule spacing that differs from that observed in wild-type cells. We then identified dis1p, a XMAP215 homologue, as factor that promotes the stabilization of microtubule bundles. In wild-type cells dis1p partially co-localized with ase1p at regions of microtubule overlap. In cells deleted for ase1 and klp2, dis1p accumulated at the overlap regions of interphase microtubule bundles. In cells lacking all three proteins, both microtubule bundling and inter-microtubule spacing were further reduced, suggesting that Dis1p contributes to interphase microtubule bundling

Resistance of Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis and Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis to nitric oxide correlates with disease severity in Tegumentary Leishmaniasis

BACKGROUND: Nitric oxide (NO(•)) plays a pivotal role as a leishmanicidal agent in mouse macrophages. NO(• )resistant Escherichia coli and Mycobacterium tuberculosis have been associated with a severe outcome of these diseases. METHODS: In this study we evaluated the in vitro toxicity of nitric oxide for the promastigote stages of Leishmania (Viannia) braziliensis and Leishmania (Leishmania) amazonensis parasites, and the infectivity of the amastigote stage for human macrophages. Parasites were isolated from patients with cutaneous, mucosal or disseminated leishmaniasis, and NO(• )resistance was correlated with clinical presentation. RESULTS: Seventeen isolates of L. (L.) amazonensis or L. (V.) braziliensis promastigotes were killed by up to 8 mM of more of NaNO(2 )(pH 5.0) and therefore were defined as nitric oxide-susceptible. In contrast, eleven isolates that survived exposure to 16 mM NaNO(2 )were defined as nitric oxide-resistant. Patients infected with nitric oxide-resistant Leishmania had significantly larger lesions than patients infected with nitric oxide-susceptible isolates. Furthermore, nitric oxide-resistant L. (L.) amazonensis and L. (V.) braziliensis multiplied significantly better in human macrophages than nitric oxide-susceptible isolates. CONCLUSION: These data suggest that nitric oxide-resistance of Leishmania isolates confers a survival benefit for the parasites inside the macrophage, and possibly exacerbates the clinical course of human leishmaniasis

Deciphering Diseases and Biological Targets for Environmental Chemicals using Toxicogenomics Networks

Exposure to environmental chemicals and drugs may have a negative effect on human health. A better understanding of the molecular mechanism of such compounds is needed to determine the risk. We present a high confidence human protein-protein association network built upon the integration of chemical toxicology and systems biology. This computational systems chemical biology model reveals uncharacterized connections between compounds and diseases, thus predicting which compounds may be risk factors for human health. Additionally, the network can be used to identify unexpected potential associations between chemicals and proteins. Examples are shown for chemicals associated with breast cancer, lung cancer and necrosis, and potential protein targets for di-ethylhexyl-phthalate, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin, pirinixic acid and permethrine. The chemical-protein associations are supported through recent published studies, which illustrate the power of our approach that integrates toxicogenomics data with other data types

Challenges Using Extrapolated Family-level Macroinvertebrate Metrics in Moderately Disturbed Tropical Streams: a Case-study From Belize

Family-level biotic metrics were originally designed to rapidly assess gross organic pollution effects, but came to be regarded as general measures of stream degradation. Improvements in water quality in developed countries have reignited debate about the limitations of family-level taxonomy to detect subtle change, and is resulting in a shift back towards generic and species-level analysis to assess smaller effects. Although the scale of pollution characterizing past condition of streams in developed countries persists in many developing regions, some areas are still considered to be only moderately disturbed. We sampled streams in Belize to investigate the ability of family-level macroinvertebrate metrics to detect change in stream catchments where less than 30% of forest had been cleared. Where disturbance did not co-vary with natural gradients of change, and in areas characterized by low intensity activities, none of the metrics tested detected significant change, despite evidence of environmental impacts. We highlight the need for further research to clarify the response of metrics to disturbance over a broader study area that allows replication for confounding sources of natural variation. We also recommend research to develop more detailed understanding of the taxonomy and ecology of Neotropical macroinvertebrates to improve the robustness of metric use

Balancing the immune response in the brain: IL-10 and its regulation

Background: The inflammatory response is critical to fight insults, such as pathogen invasion or tissue damage, but if not resolved often becomes detrimental to the host. A growing body of evidence places non-resolved inflammation at the core of various pathologies, from cancer to neurodegenerative diseases. It is therefore not surprising that the immune system has evolved several regulatory mechanisms to achieve maximum protection in the absence of pathology. Main body: The production of the anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-10 is one of the most important mechanisms evolved by many immune cells to counteract damage driven by excessive inflammation. Innate immune cells of the central nervous system, notably microglia, are no exception and produce IL-10 downstream of pattern recognition receptors activation. However, whereas the molecular mechanisms regulating IL-10 expression by innate and acquired immune cells of the periphery have been extensively addressed, our knowledge on the modulation of IL-10 expression by central nervous cells is much scattered. This review addresses the current understanding on the molecular mechanisms regulating IL-10 expression by innate immune cells of the brain and the implications of IL-10 modulation in neurodegenerative disorders. Conclusion: The regulation of IL-10 production by central nervous cells remains a challenging field. Answering the many remaining outstanding questions will contribute to the design of targeted approaches aiming at controlling deleterious inflammation in the brain.We acknowledge the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) for providing a PhD grant to DLS (SFRH/BD/88081/2012) and a post-doctoral fellowship to SR (SFRH/BPD/72710/2010). DS, AGC and SR were funded by FEDER through the Competitiveness Factors Operational Programme (COMPETE) and National Funds through FCT under the scope of the project POCI-01-0145-FEDER007038; and by the project NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013, supported by Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the PORTUGAL 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The MS lab was financed by Fundo Europeu de Desenvolvimento Regional (FEDER) funds through the COMPETE 2020—Operacional Programme for Competitiveness and Internationalisation (POCI), Portugal 2020, and by Portuguese funds through FCT in the framework of the project “Institute for Research and Innovation in Health Sciences ” (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007274). MS is a FCT Associate Investigator. The funding body had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data and in writing the manuscript

Immunological Basis for the Gender Differences in Murine Paracoccidioides brasiliensis Infection

This study aimed to investigate the immunological mechanisms involved in the gender distinct incidence of paracoccidioidomycosis (pcm), an endemic systemic mycosis in Latin America, which is at least 10 times more frequent in men than in women. Then, we compared the immune response of male and female mice to Paracoccidioides brasiliensis infection, as well as the influence in the gender differences exerted by paracoccin, a P. brasiliensis component with carbohydrate recognition property. High production of Th1 cytokines and T-bet expression have been detected in the paracoccin stimulated cultures of spleen cells from infected female mice. In contrast, in similar experimental conditions, cells from infected males produced higher levels of the Th2 cytokines and expressed GATA-3. Macrophages from male and female mice when stimulated with paracoccin displayed similar phagocytic capability, while fungicidal activity was two times more efficiently performed by macrophages from female mice, a fact that was associated with 50% higher levels of nitric oxide production. In order to evaluate the role of sexual hormones in the observed gender distinction, we have utilized mice that have been submitted to gonadectomy followed by inverse hormonal reconstitution. Spleen cells derived from castrated males reconstituted with estradiol have produced higher levels of IFN-γ (1291±15 pg/mL) and lower levels of IL-10 (494±38 pg/mL), than normal male in response to paracoccin stimulus. In contrast, spleen cells from castrated female mice that had been treated with testosterone produced more IL-10 (1284±36 pg/mL) and less IFN-γ (587±14 pg/mL) than cells from normal female. In conclusion, our results reveal that the sexual hormones had a profound effect on the biology of immune cells, and estradiol favours protective responses to P. brasiliensis infection. In addition, fungal components, such as paracoccin, may provide additional support to the gender dimorphic immunity that marks P. brasiliensis infection

BALB/c Mice Infected with Antimony Treatment Refractory Isolate of Leishmania braziliensis Present Severe Lesions due to IL-4 Production

Leishmaniasis is a neglected disease that affects more than 12 million people worldwide. In Brazil, the cutaneous disease is more prevalent with about 28,000 new cases reported each year, and L. braziliensis is the main causative agent. The interesting data about the infection with this parasite is the wide variety of clinical manifestations that ranges from single ulcerated lesions to mucocutaneous and disseminated disease. However, experimental models to study the infection with this parasite are difficult to develop due to high resistance of most mouse strains to the infection, and the mechanisms underlying the distinct manifestations remain poorly understood. Here, the authors use a mouse experimental model of infection with different L. braziliensis isolates, known to induce diseases with distinct severity in the human hosts, to elucidate immune mechanisms that may be involved in the different manifestations. They showed that distinct parasite isolates may modulate host response, and increased IL-4 production and Arg I expression was related to more severe disease, resulting in longer length of disease with larger lesions and reduced parasite clearance. These findings may be useful in the identification of immunological targets to control L. braziliensis infection and potential clinical markers of disease progression