Evolution of psychomotor development in pre-school children born prematurely

Introducción: En las últimas décadas, el nacimiento de niños prematuros se ha incrementado notablemente, siendo importante conocer sus efectos. El objetivo del estudio es determinar el perfil de desarrollo psicomotor de niños con antecedentes de prematuridad, a los 4, 5 y 6 años, y compararlos con un grupo de niños nacidos a término para detectar posibles desajustes. Pacientes y métodos: La muestra estaba constituida por 98 participantes, distribuidos uniformemente en 2 grupos, prematuros y a término. Se realizó un estudio de cohorte prospectivo longitudinal analítico observacional con un diseño de casos y controles. Se ha considerado la división del grupo prematuro en muy prematuros y prematuros moderados y tardíos. Las evaluaciones se realizaron con las Escalas McCarthy de Aptitudes y Psicomotricidad para niños. Resultados: Los datos muestran logros dentro de los intervalos medios. No obstante, se evidencian más dificultades en el desarrollo a los 4 años en el grupo de prematuros. Atendiendo a la edad gestacional, los muy prematuros (edad gestacional menor de 32 semanas) muestran puntuaciones significativamente más bajas con respecto a los prematuros moderados y tardíos, fundamentalmente a los 6 años, y con los nacidos a término, a los 4 y 6 años. Conclusiones: A menor edad gestacional, son mayores las dificultades, pudiendo afectar en la etapa de Educación Primaria. Se considera la necesidad de efectuar un seguimiento a todos los prematuros en la etapa preescolar, así como evaluar habilidades más específicas y continuar con la atención desde equipos especializados.Introduction: The rate of premature births has significantly increased, and it is important to determine its effects. The objective of this study is to determine the psychomotor development profile of a group of children born prematurely, at the age of 4, 5 and 6, and to compare them with a group of full-term birth children, in order to detect any differences. Patients and methods: The sample consisted of 98 participants, evenly distributed into two groups, premature and full-term born children. A prospective longitudinal observational analytical study, with a design of cases and controls, was carried out. For some analyses, the separation into early pre-term, moderate pre-term, and late pre-term was considered. The evaluations were performed using the McCarthy Scale of Aptitudes and Psychomotor skills for children. Results: The data shows achievements within the middle intervals. However, there are more difficulties in development at 4 years in the group of premature children, according to gestational age. Early pre-term (gestational age less than 32 weeks) showed significantly lower scores compared to moderate and late pre-term, mainly at 6 years, and with those born at term, at 4 and 6 years. Conclusions: Development difficulties are greater at a lower gestational age, and may affect the Primary Education stage. The need to monitor all premature children in the preschool stage is suggested, as well as to evaluate more specific skills and continue with the care from specialist teams.Consejería de Salud. Junta de Andalucía PI-0397/200

Numerical Treatment of Fixed Point Applied to the Nonlinear Fredholm Integral Equation

The authors present a method of numerical approximation of the fixed point of an operator, specifically the integral one associated with a nonlinear Fredholm integral equation, that uses strongly the properties of a classical Schauder basis in the Banach space .This research partially supported by M.E.C. (Spain) and FEDER project no. MTM2006-12533 and by Junta de Andalucía Grant FQM359

Distinct Microglial Responses in Two Transgenic Murine Models of TAU Pathology

Microglial cells are crucial players in the pathological process of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Microglial response in AD has been principally studied in relation to amyloid-beta pathology but, comparatively, little is known about inflammatory processes associated to tau pathology. In the hippocampus of AD patients, where tau pathology is more prominent than amyloid-beta pathology, a microglial degenerative process has been reported. In this work, we have directly compared the microglial response in two different transgenic tau mouse models: ThyTau22 and P301S. Surprisingly, these two models showed important differences in the microglial profile and tau pathology. Where ThyTau22 hippocampus manifested mild microglial activation, P301S mice exhibited a strong microglial response in parallel with high phospho-tau accumulation. This differential phospho-tau expression could account for the different microglial response in these two tau strains. However, soluble (S1) fractions from ThyTau22 hippocampus presented relatively high content of soluble phospho-tau (AT8-positive) and were highly toxic for microglial cells in vitro, whereas the correspondent S1 fractions from P301S mice displayed low soluble phosphotau levels and were not toxic for microglial cells. Therefore, not only the expression levels but the aggregation of phospho-tau should differ between both models. In fact, most of tau forms in the P301S mice were aggregated and, in consequence, forming insoluble tau species.We conclude that different factors as tau mutations, accumulation, phosphorylation, and/or aggregation could account for the distinct microglial responses observed in these two tau models. For this reason, deciphering the molecular nature of toxic tau species for microglial cells might be a promising therapeutic approach in order to restore the deficient immunological protection observed in AD hippocampus.CIBERNEDJunta de Andalucía. Consejería de Economía, Innovación, Ciencia y Empleo CTS-2035Fundación Tatiana Pérez de Guzmán el BuenoMinisterio de Ciencia, Innovación y UniversidadesInstituto de Salud Carlos III. Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. PI15/00957 PI15/00796Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional PI15/00957 PI15/0079

La tutorización del TFG en el Grado de Psicología: propuesta de evaluación por rúbrica

Existe la necesidad de definir las competencias de tutorización del profesorado. Este trabajo presenta una propuesta de rúbrica para ayudar al profesorado a dirigir los TFG eficazmente.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Guia de estilos de vida saudáveis da FINUT: além da pirâmide alimentar

La Organización Mundial de la Salud (World Health Organization: OMS) ha propuesto que la salud debe ser promovida y protegida a través del desarrollo de un medio ambiente que permita acciones sostenibles a nivel individual, comunitario, nacional y global. De hecho, se han desarrollado en numerosos países guías alimentarias (por ejemplo, las pirámides de alimentos) para divulgar información nutricional a la población general. Sin embargo, se necesitan recomendaciones más amplias sobre estilos activos de vida saludable, no restringidos únicamente a los alimentos. El objetivo de este trabajo es la propuesta de una pirámide tridimensional como una nueva estrategia para promover una nutrición adecuada y estilos activos de vida saludable de manera sostenible. En efecto, se ha diseñado la pirámide FINUT (Fundación Iberoamericana de Nutrición) sobre estilos de vida saludable como un tetraedro cuyas tres caras laterales se corresponden a los binomios alimentación y nutrición, actividad física y descanso, y educación e higiene. Cada cara lateral está dividida en dos triángulos. Estas caras muestran lo siguiente: 1. guías alimentarias y hábitos de alimentación saludable en relación a un medio ambiente sostenible; 2. recomendaciones sobre descanso y actividad física y temas de educación, sociales y culturales relacionados; 3. guías seleccionadas sobre higiene y educación que, en conjunto con las otras dos caras, puedan contribuir a una mejor salud para la población en un planeta sostenible. La nueva pirámide FINUT se dirige a la población general de todas las edades y debería servir como una guía para un estilo de vida saludable en un contexto social y cultural definido. La pirámide incluye una dimensión ambiental y sostenible que proporciona medidas para contribuir a la prevención de las enfermedades crónicas no transmisibles.The World Health Organization has proposed that health be promoted and protected through the development of an environment that enables sustainable actions at individual, community, national and global levels. Indeed, food-based dietary guidelines, i.e., food pyramids, have been developed in numerous countries to disseminate nutritional information to the general population. However, wider recommendations are needed, with information on an active, healthy lifestyle, not just healthy eating. The objective of the present work is to propose a three-dimensional pyramid as a new strategy for promoting adequate nutrition and active healthy lifestyles in a sustainable way. Indeed, the Iberomerican Nutrition Foundation (FINUT) pyramid of healthy lifestyles has been designed as a tetrahedron, its three lateral faces corresponding to the binomials food and nutrition, physical activity and rest, and education and hygiene. Each lateral face is divided into two triangles. These faces show the following: 1. food-based guidelines and healthy eating habits as related to a sustainable environment; 2. recommendations for rest and physical activity and educational, social and cultural issues; 3. selected hygiene and educational guidelines that, in conjunction with the other two faces, would contribute to better health and provide measures to promote environmental sustainability. The new FINUT pyramid is addressed to the general population of all ages and should serve as a guide for living a healthy lifestyle within a defined social and cultural context. It includes an environmental and sustainability dimension providing measures that should contribute to the prevention of non-communicable chronic diseases.A Organização Mundial da Saúde propôs a promoção e a proteção da saúde através do desenvolvimento de um ambiente que permita ações sustentáveis nos aspectos individuais, comunitários, nacionais e globais. De fato, diversos países desenvolveram diretrizes nutricionais baseadas em pirâmides alimentares, para a disseminação de informações nutricionais para a população em geral. No entanto, há também a necessidade de recomendações mais amplas, com informações sobre estilos de vida ativos e saudáveis, não apenas sobre a alimentação saudável. E objetivo do presente trabalho é propor uma pirâmide tridimensional como nova estratégia para a promoção da alimentação adequada e estilos de vida ativos e saudáveis de uma forma sustentável. Na verdade, a pirâmide de estilos de vida saudáveis da Fundação Ibero-Americana de Nutrição (FINUT) foi concebida como um tetraedro, com suas três faces laterais correspondendo aos aspectos de alimentação e nutrição, atividade física e repouso, e educação e higiene. Cada face lateral apresenta dois triângulos. Essas faces apresentam as seguintes informações: 1) diretrizes baseadas em alimentos e hábitos alimentares saudáveis relacionados a um meio-ambiente sustentável; 2) recomendações para repouso e atividade física e questões educacionais, sociais e culturais; e 3) diretrizes específicas sobre higiene e educação que, em conjunto com as outras duas faces, contribuiriam para a melhoria da saúde das pessoas em um planeta sustentável. A nova pirâmide FINUT é voltada para a população geral de todas as idades e deve servir como guia para um estilo de vida saudável, em um contexto social e cultural definido. Ela inclui uma dimensão ambiental e sustentável, fornecendo medidas que devem contribuir para a prevenção de doenças crônicas não transmissíveis

Bronchiolitis and recurrent wheezing are distinguished by type 2 innate lymphoid cells and immune response

Background: Recurrent wheezing (RW) is frequently developed in infants that have suffered bronchiolitis (BCH) during first months of life, but the immune mechanism underlying is not clear. The goal was to analyze the innate immune response that characterizes BCH and RW. Methods: Ninety-eight and seventy hospitalized infants with BCH or RW diagnosis, respectively, were included. Nasopharyngeal aspirate (NPA) was processed. Cellular pellet was employed to evaluate type 2 innate lymphoid cells (ILC2) by flow cytometry and mRNA expression assays by semi-quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). In supernatant, twenty-seven pro-inflammatory and immunomodulatory factors, as well as lipid mediators and nitrites, were evaluated by ELISA and Luminex. Results: Bronchiolitis patients showed higher ILC2 percentage compared with RW (P < .05). Also, ST2+ /ILC2 percentage was higher in the BCH group than in the RW group (P < .01). TLR3, IL33, IFNG, IL10, and FLG mRNA levels were significantly increased in BCH vs RW (P < .05). In supernatant, no significant differences were reached, observing similar levels of parameters linked to vascular damage, monocyte activation, and fibroblast growth. Prostaglandin E2 and cysteinyl leukotrienes C4 were evaluated; a significant difference was only found in their ratio. Conclusion: Bronchiolitis is associated with elevated nasal percentage of ILC2. This cellular population could be the key element in the differential immune response between BCH and RW which share some mechanisms such us monocyte activation, vascular damage, and fibroblast repair. Lipid mediators could play a role in the evolution of the disease later in life through innate lymphoid cells.This study has been partially supported by FIS (Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria—Spanish Health Research Fund) Grants PI15/00803, FI16/00036, PI15CIII/00028, and FEDER Funds (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional); Alfonso X El Sabio University Grant: VIII Convocatoria Santander‐UAX; and CIBER de Enfermedades Respiratorias (CIBERES), a Carlos III Institute of Health Initiative.S

Starch-based antifungal edible coatings to control sour rot caused by Geotrichum citri-aurantii and maintain postharvest quality of ‘Fino’ lemon

BACKGROUND: Two edible coating (EC) emulsions based on potato starch (F6 and F10) alone or formulated with sodium benzoate (SB, 2% w/w) (F6/SB and F10/SB) were evaluated to maintain postharvest quality of cold-stored ‘Fino’ lemons and control sour rot on lemons artificially inoculated with Geotrichum citri-aurantii. Previous research showed the potential of these ECs to improve the storability of ‘Orri’ mandarins and reduce citrus green and blue molds caused by Penicillum digitatum and Penicillium italicum, respectively. RESULTS: The coatings F6/SB and F10/SB significantly reduced sour rot incidence and severity compared to uncoated control samples on lemons incubated at 28°C for 4 and 7 days. The F6/SB coating reduced weight loss and gas exchange compared to uncoated fruit after 2 and 4 weeks of storage at 12°C plus a shelf life of 1 week at 20 °C, without adversely affecting the lemon physicochemical quality. CONCLUSION: Overall, the F6/SB coating formulation, composed of pregelatinized potato starch, glyceryl monostearate, glycerol, emulsifiers and SB, with a total solid content of 5.5%, showed the best results in reducing citrus sour rot and maintaining the postharvest quality of cold-stored ‘Fino’ lemons. Therefore, it showed potential as a new cost-effective postharvest treatment suitable to be included in integrated disease management programs for citrus international markets with zero tolerance to chemical residues

Uso de Tics para disminuir el desinterés en estudiantes de educación superior

El objetivo de este estudio fue crear una página web que haga las funciones de un centro de capacitación para proponer, difundir e impulsar el uso de herramientas de enseñanza didáctica de tipo multimedia como video clases, material digital en varios formatos Windows, y el uso de diferentes aplicaciones y plataformas por parte de los docentes para disminuir el desinterés en estudiantes de educación superior y lograr un mejoramiento pedagógico docente. En una primera fase se exploró las causas que originan, desmotivación, desinterés, y desgano en estudiantes universitarios mediante un cuestionario de preguntas aplicado a jóvenes adultos de 19 a 22 años, hombres y mujeres, en una segunda fase los productos de dicha exploración permitieron formular el análisis de alternativas o herramientas pedagógicas a utilizar con lo cual se pasó a estructurar dichas herramientas que se aplicaron a una materia netamente teórica, luego en una tercera fase se procedió a realizar una evaluación de la efectividad de las herramientas en la materia aplicada con lo que se hicieron los ajustes finales necesarios. Se obtuvo como resultado que a mayor utilización de medios audiovisuales utilizados por los maestros, mayor es la curiosidad y el interés estudiantil por aprender de qué se tratan las tecnologías aplicadas por lo que se logró un mayor aprendizaje. Se hizo una comparación de un estudio aplicado a estudiantes de menor edad cursantes de estudios secundarios, lo que determinó que las ocupaciones, situación laboral e intereses son distintos a los estudiantes de educación superior por lo que la estrategia a aplicar en la utilización de tics también es diferente.The objective of this study was to create a website that makes the functions of a training center to propose, disseminate and promote the use of multimedia teaching tools such as video classes, digital material in various Windows formats, and the use of different applications and platforms by teachers to reduce the disinterest in higher education students and achieve a pedagogical improvement teacher. In a first phase the causes that cause, demotivation, disinterest, and reluctance in university students were explored through a questionnaire applied to young adults from 19 to 22 years old, men and women, in a second phase the products of this exploration allowed to formulate the analysis of alternatives or pedagogical tools to be used, with which the tools that were applied to a purely theoretical subject were structured, then in a third phase an evaluation of the effectiveness of the tools in the applied subject was carried out. that the necessary final adjustments were made. It was obtained as a result that the greater the use of audiovisual media used by teachers, the greater the curiosity and student interest in learning what the applied technologies are about, so that greater learning was achieved. A comparison was made of a study applied to younger students attending high school, which determined that occupations, employment status and interests are different from students of higher education so the strategy to apply in the use of tics also is different

Starch-glyceryl monostearate edible coatings formulated with sodium benzoate control postharvest citrus diseases caused by Penicillium digitatum and Penicillium italicum

The curative antifungal activity of edible composite coatings (ECs) based on pregelatinized potato starch-glyceryl monostearate (PPS-GMS) formulated with or without sodium benzoate (SB) to control green mould (caused by Penicillium digitatum) and blue mould (P. italicum) was assessed on ‘Orri’ mandarins, ‘Valencia’ oranges and ‘Fino’ lemons. These fruit were artificially inoculated with P. digitatum or P. italicum, treated by immersion in coating emulsions and compared to uncoated control fruit immersed in water and fruit immersed in 2% SB (w/v) aqueous solution. Treated fruit were then stored at either 20°C or commercial low temperature (5°C for mandarins and oranges, 12°C for lemons). Coatings without SB did not exhibit antifungal activity, whereas coatings containing 2% SB reduced incidence and severity of green and blue moulds, in comparison to the controls, on all citrus species and in all storage conditions, without differing from the aplication of 2% SB alone. For example, incidence reduction on ‘Fino’ lemons was from 99 to 0% after 7 d at 20°C, and from 99 to 30% after 2 weeks at 12°C. None of the treatments was phytotoxic. These results indicate that applications of SB as antifungal ingredient of PPS-GMS based ECs is a promising non-polluting alternative to control Penicillium postharvest decay of citrus, and these ECs are effective substitutes for conventional waxes amended with synthetic fungicides