La utilización de las nuevas tecnologías para la búsqueda de bibliografía básica sobre las dificultades en el aprendizaje escolar

El objetivo de este artículo y la presentación de una bibliografía básica sobre las investigaciones que en la década de los 90 se han llevado a cabo en distintos países nos parece básica. El interés que suscita este campo de trabajo por la mayoría de los educadores hace que surja un interés desde la propia escuela por averiguar qué se investiga respecto a los alumnos que presentan dificultades en la escuela. Sobre todo estas investigaciones nos dan una idea de la intervención psicopedagógica y las estrategias educativas para utilizar en el aula con alumnos que no siguen de forma adecuada el currículum escolar

Operation of cognitive memory inhibition in adults with Down syndrome: Effects of maintenance load and material

Background Cognitive inhibition is one of the executive functions; this process over memory plays a fundamental role in recalling relevant information. The aims of this study were to understand the effects of maintenance load and stimuli on the operation of cognitive inhibition over memory in working memory tasks in adults with Down syndrome. Method The study included 36 individuals with Down syndrome (mean age = 33.44 years, standard deviation = 7.54 years, 50% women) and 36 individuals with neurotypical development (mean age = 33.55 years, standard deviation = 7.52 years, 50% women). The participants performed a working memory task in which they had to solve an interference problem during the maintenance phase. Results The Down syndrome group performed worse on cognitive inhibition over memory than the neurotypical development group. Both groups had lower recall with interference and under high-load conditions. In the neurotypical development group, memory was similar with both materials. The Down syndrome group performed better with non-social stimuli than with social stimuli. Conclusions Understanding the variables that influence cognitive inhibition over memory will help in planning effective interventions for people with Down syndrome. Considering the results, special importance should be placed on work with social stimuli, at least in individuals with Down syndrome.This work received funding from Autour des Williams, Code 10.06.01.0050 to JMLF and M

Afectación de la inhibición cognitiva sobre la memoria en personas con discapacidad intelectual: Un meta-análisis.

Background: Cognitive inhibition impairment is intimately related to the forgetfulness of relevant information. This meta-analysis aims to synthesise the evidence of impaired function of cognitive inhibition processes over memory in individuals with intellectual disability (ID). Method: Eleven studies were selected and analysed and included a total of 683 participants. The studies were categorised according to variables such as the task used, the processes involved, the sensory modalities and the method. Results: Despite the small sample of studies, the results revealed signifi cant diffi culties with cognitive memory inhibition (CMI) tasks in individuals with ID compared with typical development (TD) individuals (d = 0.62). CMI problems were found in all life stages except the 19-45- year-old stage. In this stage, there was a smaller amount of evidence even though it included the 31-40-year-old range, during which premature aging has been observed in ID. Conclusions: An impairment of CMI in people with ID was observed. More studies are needed to more reliably assess the potential moderating role of age and other factors.Antecedentes: la afectación de la inhibición cognitiva se encuentra íntimamente relacionada con el olvido de información relevante. Este meta-análisis tiene como objetivo conocer si los procesos de inhibición cognitiva sobre la memoria están afectados en personas con discapacidad intelectual (DI). Método: se seleccionaron y analizaron 11 estudios que incluyeron un total de 683 participantes. Los artículos fueron categorizados en función de la tarea utilizada, los procesos implicados, las modalidades sensoriales y el método. Resultados: a pesar del número de estudios, se observaron difi cultades signifi cativas en inhibición cognitiva sobre la memoria (ICM) en personas con DI, en comparación con personas con desarrollo típico (d = 0.62). Estas difi cultades se observaron en todas las etapas cronológicas, excepto de 19 a 45 años. En esta etapa, la evidencia fue escasa, a pesar de incluir el rango de los 31-40 años, donde se ha observado presencia de envejecimiento prematuro en personas con DI. Conclusiones: se observaron difi cultades en ICM en personas con DI. Se necesitan más estudios para evaluar de forma más exhaustiva el papel potencialmente moderador de la edad y de otros factores.Part of this work has been supported by “Autour des Williams”. Project “Inhibitory processes and memory mechanisms in adults with Williams syndrome: A neuropsychological and functional connectivity approach using magnetoencephalography”

Screening of the human tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) gene promoter polymorphisms by PCR–DGGE analysis

We have designed a new PCR-DGGE technique that enables detection of base changes in the TNF-alpha gene promoter. Screening of 130 samples from Spanish children has shown that this technique accurately detects the altered band patterns induced by the presence of the polymorphisms at positions -376, -308, -238 and -163 of the promoter sequence. Although further analysis are needed to fully characterise the alterations detected, we believe that this PCR-DGGE technique is a rapid and sensitive first approach to the genetic characterisation of the TNF-alpha promote

Analysis of Polymorphisms of the Vitamin D Receptor, Estrogen Receptor, and Collagen Iα1 Genes and Their Relationship With Height in Children With Bone Cancer

The authors' objectives were to compare height at diagnosis of children with bone tumors with that of Spanish reference children; to analyze the frequency of the genotypes for the polymorphisms of the vitamin D receptor (VDR), estrogen receptor (ER), and collagen Ialpha1 (COLIalpha1) genes in patients and in healthy controls; and to test the relationship between the genetic markers and height. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Height and weight at diagnosis were measured in 58 osteosarcoma and 36 Ewing sarcoma patients and compared with standards published for Spanish reference children according to sex and age. For the molecular analysis, genetic polymorphisms of the VDR (Fok I, Apa I, and TaqI), ER (Pvu II and XbaI), and COLIalpha1 (Msc I) genes were characterized in 72 osteosarcoma and 53 Ewing sarcomas and in a group of 143 healthy matched children. RESULTS: Osteosarcoma and Ewing sarcoma patients were significantly taller than Spanish reference children. Osteosarcoma patients showed a significantly higher frequency of the Ff genotype for the Fok I polymorphism (VDR gene) than the control group. The odds ratio for this genotype was 1.78, with an increased relative risk of 78% for heterozygous Ff carriers. Among Ewing sarcoma patients, this same genotype was significantly associated with lower height than homozygotes (FF or ff). CONCLUSIONS: Children with bone cancer are significantly taller than the reference population, which may be influenced by the genotype for the Fok I polymorphism of the VDR gene

CAR T Cell Therapy for Neuroblastoma

Patients with high risk neuroblastoma have a poor prognosis and survivors are often left with debilitating long term sequelae from treatment. Even after integration of anti-GD2 monoclonal antibody therapy into standard, upftont protocols, 5-year overall survival rates are only about 50%. The success of anti-GD2 therapy has proven that immunotherapy can be effective in neuroblastoma. Adoptive transfer of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells has the potential to build on this success. In early phase clinical trials, CAR T cell therapy for neuroblastoma has proven safe and feasible, but significant barriers to efficacy remain. These include lack of T cell persistence and potency, difficulty in target identification, and an immunosuppressive tumor microenvironment. With recent advances in CAR T cell engineering, many of these issues are being addressed in the laboratory. In this review, we summarize the clinical trials that have been completed or are underway for CAR T cell therapy in neuroblastoma, discuss the conclusions and open questions derived from these trials, and consider potential strategies to improve CAR T cell therapy for patients with neuroblastoma

National Tourism Behavior and Growth in Spain

En este artículo se estudia el comportamiento de la demanda turística de los españoles respecto al crecimiento de la economía en los primeros años de este siglo. El estudio se centra exclusivamente en la población residente en España, de forma que se analizan las relaciones de causalidad entre las variaciones del Producto Interior Bruto y las preferencias turísticas de los españoles. En primer lugar, se evalúa esta influencia sobre el flujo turístico de los residentes en España, haciendo una distinción entre el turismo emisor y el turismo interno y, en segundo lugar, las distinciones se realizan sobre el turismo rural y el resto de tipologías alojados en establecimientos hoteleros. Para ello, se utilizan datos de las series temporales trimestrales del producto interior bruto nacional, del número de viajes al extranjero, del número de viajes internos, del total de pernoctaciones en hoteles nacionales y del número de pernoctaciones en alojamientos de turismo rural. Los resultados confirman una causalidad bidireccional entre el turismo nacional y crecimiento económico, detectándose una ruptura estructural en 2008 que no afecta a las relaciones entre las variables y no producen alteraciones en las causalidades.This paper studies the behavior of the tourist demand of Spaniards in relation to the economic growth in the early years of this century. The study focuses exclusively on the resident population of Spain in order to analyze the causal relationships between the variations of the Spanish Gross Domestic Product and the tourist preferences of Spaniards. First it assesses this influence on the tourist flow of the residents in Spain distinguishing between outbound tourism and domestic tourism. A distinction between traditional tourism and rural tourism is also made. This is done using data from the quarterly national time series of the national Gross Domestic Product, the number of trips abroad, the number of internal trips, the total number of nights spent by domestic tourists in hotels and the number of nights spent by national tourists in rural tourism accommodation. The results confirm a bi-directional causality by detecting a structural break in 2008 that does not affect the relationships between the variables and does not produce alterations in the causalities

Microeconomic influence of Marine Environment Conditions on Red Seabream Fishery of the Strait of Gibraltar

This paper is aimed at determining the impact of the variability of marine environment conditions on the capture of a vessel that exploit the red seabream fishery of the Strait of Gibraltar. This paper estimates first and second order elasticities of a Translog approximation of a Stochastic Distance Functions of multiple outputs assuming time unvarying technical efficiency in order to get this aim. The evidences that sea surface temperatures have influence on growth and maturation and on the development of hermaphroditic gonads of different kinds of seabream support the consideration of sea surface temperatures as an approximation of the variability of marine environment conditions. Additionally, the growth pattern of red seabream provides meaningful information of this fish species that justifies looking in the relation between landings or red seabream abundance, and sea surface temperatures during spring with a lag of no less than two seasons.This paper concludes that technical efficiency of red seabream fleet is of 88% in period 2002-2004 and that an increase of 1% of mean sea surface spring temperature lagged 2 seasons results on a 27.50% decrease of captures. This paper also concludes that the relationships between the marine environment factors and the evolution of red seabream exploited fish stock take place a couple of year before the season and therefore the expected recruitment is known before it. This allows the policy-maker to design an adaptive management strategy accounting these relationships for a certain season once the historical evolution of the marine environment factors is known.Keywords: Fisheries and Environment, Fisheries Economics, Fishery ManagementKeywords: Fisheries and Environment, Fisheries Economics, Fishery Managemen

Coordinated Activation of the Origin Licensing Factor CDC6 and CDK2 in Resting Human Fibroblasts Expressing SV40 Small T Antigen and Cyclin E

We have previously shown that SV40 small t antigen (st) cooperates with deregulated cyclin E to activate CDK2 and bypass quiescence in normal human fibroblasts (NHF). Here we show that st expression in serum-starved and density-arrested NHF specifically induces up-regulation and loading of CDC6 onto chromatin. Coexpression of cyclin E results in further accumulation of CDC6 onto chromatin concomitantly with phosphorylation of CDK2 on Thr-160 and CDC6 on Ser-54. Investigation of the mechanism leading to CDC6 accumulation and chromatin loading indicates that st is a potent inducer of cdc6 mRNA expression and increases CDC6 protein stability. We also show that CDC6 expression in quiescent NHF efficiently promotes cyclin E loading onto chromatin, but it is not sufficient to activate CDK2. Moreover, we show that CDC6 expression is linked to phosphorylation of the activating T loop of CDK2 in serum-starved NHF stimulated with mitogens or ectopically expressing cyclin E and st. Our data suggest a model where the combination of st and deregulated cyclin E result in cooperative and coordinated activation of both an essential origin licensing factor, CDC6, and an activity required for origin firing, CDK2, resulting in progression from quiescence to S phase

Immunomics-guided discovery of serum and urine antibodies for diagnosing urogenital schistosomiasis:A biomarker identification study

Background: Sensitive diagnostics are needed for effective management and surveillance of schistosomiasis so that current transmission interruption goals set by WHO can be achieved. We aimed to screen the Schistosoma haematobium secretome to find antibody biomarkers of schistosome infection, validate their diagnostic performance in samples from endemic populations, and evaluate their utility as point of care immunochromatographic tests (POC-ICTs) to diagnose urogenital schistosomiasis in the field. Methods: We did a biomarker identification study, in which we constructed a proteome array containing 992 validated and predicted proteins from S haematobium and screened it with serum and urine antibodies from endemic populations in Gabon, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. Arrayed antigens that were IgG-reactive and a select group of antigens from the worm extracellular vesicle proteome, predicted to be diagnostically informative, were then evaluated by ELISA using the same samples used to probe arrays, and samples from individuals residing in a low-endemicity setting (ie, Pemba and Unguja islands, Zanzibar, Tanzania). The two most sensitive and specific antigens were incorporated into POC-ICTs to assess their ability to diagnose S haematobium infection from serum in a field-deployable format. Findings: From array probing, in individuals who were infected, 208 antigens were the targets of significantly elevated IgG responses in serum and 45 antigens were the targets of significantly elevated IgG responses in urine. Of the five proteins that were validated by ELISA, Sh-TSP-2 (area under the curve [AUC]serum=0·98 [95% CI 0·95-1·00]; AUCurine=0·96 [0·93-0·99]), and MS3_01370 (AUCserum=0·93 [0·89-0·97]; AUCurine=0·81 [0·72-0·89]) displayed the highest overall diagnostic performance in each biofluid and exceeded that of S haematobium-soluble egg antigen in urine (AUC=0·79 [0·69-0·90]). When incorporated into separate POC-ICTs, Sh-TSP-2 showed absolute specificity and a sensitivity of 75% and MS3_01370 showed absolute specificity and a sensitivity of 89%. Interpretation: We identified numerous biomarkers of urogenital schistosomiasis that could form the basis of novel antibody diagnostics for this disease. Two of these antigens, Sh-TSP-2 and MS3_01370, could be used as sensitive, specific, and field-deployable diagnostics to support schistosomiasis control and elimination initiatives, with particular focus on post-elimination surveillance. Funding: Australian Trade and Investment Commission and Merck Global Health Institute