Learning disabilities in higher education: a challenge for the university

El número de estudiantes con Dificultades del Aprendizaje que accede a entornos universitarios está aumentando, lo que pone en relieve la importancia de realizar adaptaciones que se correspondan con las necesidades de este nuevo alumnado. Con el objetivo de analizar las barreras percibidas por estos estudiantes, se realiza una revisión sistemática a través de la base de datos Web of Science, sin restricción de fecha, utilizando un concepto amplio de dificultades de aprendizaje y combinado los siguientes descriptores: learning disabilities, highereducation, university, barriers. Se seleccionan, examinan y comparan un total de 23 artículos. Del análisis realizado se desprende que, si bien se están realizando esfuerzos por elaborar adaptaciones de calidad que se correspondan con las demandas de los estudiantes con Dificultades del Aprendizaje, las barreras aún parecen ser más numerosas que los sistemas de apoyo implantados. Las implicaciones a corto y largo plazo se analizan en la discusión.La Revista Publicaciones se edita en la Facultad y cuenta con los siguientes patrocinadores: Consejería de Educación, Juventud y Deportes (Ciudad Autónoma de Melilla) Vicerrectorado de Investigación y Transferencia de la Universidad de Granada Facultad de Educación y Humanidades de Melill

Novel Measure of the Weigh Distribution Balance on the Brain Network: Graph Complexity Applied to Schizophrenia

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this study was to assess brain complexity dynamics in schizophrenia (SCH) patients during an auditory oddball task. For that task, we applied a novel graph measure based on the balance of the node weighs distribution. Previous studies applied complexity parameters that were strongly dependent on network topology. This fact could bias the results besides being necessary correction techniques as surrogating process. In the present study, we applied a novel graph complexity measure from the information theory: Shannon Graph Complexity (SGC). Complexity patterns form electroencephalographic recordings of 20 healthy controls and 20 SCH patients during an auditory oddball task were analyzed. Results showed a significantly more pronounced decrease of SGC for controls than for SCH patients during the cognitive task. These findings suggest an important change in the brain configuration towards more balanced networks, mainly in the connections related to long-range interactions. Since these changes are significantly more pronounced in controls, it implies a deficit in the neural network reorganization in SCH patients. In addition, SGC showed a suitable discrimination ability using a leave-one-out cross-validation: 0.725 accuracy and 0.752 area under receiver operating characteristics curve. The novel complexity measure proposed in this study demonstrated to be independent of network topology and, therefore, it complements traditional graph measures to characterize brain networks.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (VA059U13

Analysis of Functional Connectivity during an Auditory Oddball Task in Schizophrenia

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this study was to evaluate neural coupling patterns in schizophrenia (SCH) patients and healthy controls during an auditory oddball task. Two measures of functional connectivity were applied to 28 SCH patients and 51 healthy controls to characterize electroencephalographic (EEG) activity. Specifically, magnitude squared coherence (MSC) and the imaginary part of coherency (ICOH) were computed for five frequency bands: theta, alpha, beta-1, beta-2 and gamma. The results showed a statistically significant modulation increase in MSC and ICOH for controls with respect to SCH in the theta band, and a decrease in ICOH for the beta-2 band. Furthermore, controls showed more significant changes from the baseline and active task windows than SCH patients. Our findings suggest that SCH patients show coupling abnormalities during an auditory oddball task compared to healthy controls.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (VA059U13

Analysis of the Non-stationarity of Neural Activity during an Auditory Oddball Task in Schizophrenia

Producción CientíficaThe aim of this study was to characterize brain dynamics during an auditory oddball task. For this purpose, a measure of the non-stationarity of a given time-frequency representation (TFR) was applied to electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. EEG activity was acquired from 20 schizophrenic (SCH) patients and 20 healthy controls while they underwent a three-stimulus auditory oddball task. The Degree of Stationarity (DS), a measure of the non-stationarity of the TFR, was computed using the continuous wavelet transform. DS was calculated for both the baseline [-300 0] ms and active task [150 550] ms windows of a P300 auditory oddball task. Results showed a statistically significant increase (p<0.05) in non-stationarity for controls during the cognitive task in the central region, while less widespread statistically significant differences were obtained for SCH patients, especially in the beta-2 and gamma bands. Our findings support the relevance of DS as a means to study cerebral processing in SCH. Furthermore, the lack of statistically significant changes in DS for SCH patients suggests an abnormal reorganization of neural dynamics during an oddball task.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (TEC2014-53196-R)Junta de Castilla y León (VA059U13

Exploring non-stationarity patterns in schizophrenia: neural reorganization abnormalities in the alpha band

Producción CientíficaObjective. The aim of this paper was to characterize brain non-stationarity during an auditory oddball task in schizophrenia (SCH). The level of non-stationarity was measured in the baseline and response windows of relevant tones in SCH patients and healthy controls. Approach. Event-related potentials were recorded from 28 SCH patients and 51 controls. Non-stationarity was estimated in the conventional electroencephalography frequency bands by means of Kullback-Leibler divergence (KLD). Relative power (RP) was also computed to assess a possible complementarity with KLD. Main results. Results showed a widespread statistically significant increase in the level of non-stationarity from baseline to response in all frequency bands for both groups. Statistically significant differences in non-stationarity were found between SCH patients and controls in beta-2 and especially in the alpha band. SCH patients showed more non-stationarity in the left parieto-occipital region during the baseline window in the beta-2 band. A leave-one-out cross validation classification study with feature selection based on binary stepwise logistic regression to discriminate between SCH patients and controls provided an accuracy of 89.87% and area under ROC of 0.9510. Significance. KLD can characterize transient neural reorganization during an attentional task in response to novelty and relevance. Our findings suggest anomalous reorganization of neural dynamics in SCH during an oddball task. The abnormal frequency-dependent modulation found in SCH patients during relevant tones is in agreement with the hypothesis of aberrant salience detection in SCH. The increase in non-stationarity in the alpha band during the active task supports the notion that this band is involved in top-down processing. The baseline differences in the beta-2 band suggest that hyperactivation of the default mode network during attention tasks may be related to SCH symptoms. Furthermore, the binary stepwise logistic regression procedure selected features from both KLD and RP, supporting the idea that these measures can be complementary.This research project was supported in part by the projects TEC2014-53196-R of ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’ and FEDER; the project VA037U16 from the “Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León”, the “Fondo de Investigaciones Sanitarias (Instituto de Salud Carlos III)” under projects FIS PI11/02203 and PI15/00299; and the “Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León” under projects GRS 932/A/14 and GRS 1134/A/15. P. Núñez was in receipt of a ‘Promoción de empleo joven e implantación de la Garantía Juvenil en I+D+i’ grant from ‘Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad’ and the University of Valladolid, A. Bachiller and J. Gomez-Pilar were in receipt of a PIF-UVA grant from the University of Valladolid. A. Lubeiro has a predoctoral scholarship from the “Junta de Castilla y León” and European Social Fund

RED interuniversitaria para el desarrollo de competencias emprendedoras en estudiantes del grado en Publicidad y RRPP. PRP-Emprende

En el actual contexto socioeconómico, caracterizado por una incipiente recuperación de la crisis económica que irrumpió en nuestro país en el año 2008, el autoempleo puede convertirse para los futuros egresados del Grado en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas en una excelente apuesta profesional. La contribución que presentamos se sustenta en una pregunta de investigación a través de la cual nos planteamos si “los profesionales del sector de la comunicación con competencias sólidas en emprendimiento pueden optar a mejores posibilidades de desarrollo en su carrera profesional como trabajadores autónomos”. Por ello, el objetivo de nuestra investigación es identificar cuáles son los aspectos (o ítems) fundamentales de los contenidos y de la metodología docente implementada por los integrantes de la RED interuniversitaria para el desarrollo de competencias emprendedoras en estudiantes del grado en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas. PRP-Emprende, en diferentes propuestas docentes dentro del Grado, para analizar si éstas contribuyen a estimular o a frenar el emprendedurismo en el alumnado. Los resultados obtenidos nos permitirán, por una parte, revisar las propuestas diseñadas en las diversas guías docentes de los integrantes de la red; y por otra, realizar como grupo de trabajo colaborativo una nueva propuesta de metodología didáctica para consolidar las competencias emprendedoras en el perfil profesional de los estudiantes del Grado, junto con las cognitivas, procedimentales y actitudinales

Teaching to Promote Entrepreneurship in the Degree in Advertising and Public Relations. Analysis Methodologies and Content

El trabajo parte de la reflexión sobre las oportunidades laborales de los egresados en publicidad y relaciones públicas, con una hipótesis inicial sobre las posibilidades de desarrollo de una carrera profesional autónoma a partir de la formación en competencias para el emprendimiento. La investigación contempla el análisis de contenido de guías docentes de diferentes asignaturas y universidades. Además se cuenta con dos doctorandas docentes y emprendedoras. Los resultados obtenidos revelan puntos fuertes y áreas de mejora que conviene atender si se pretende fomentar el emprendimiento en Publicidad y Relaciones Públicas, y abre una agenda de investigación específica sobre el tema.This paper reflects about employment opportunities of Advertising and Public Relations’ graduates and it suggests an initial assumption about possibilities for development of a self-sufficient professional career from skills training for entrepreneurship. This research includes content analysis of several teaching guides. In addition, it counts with the collaboration of two PhD students and entrepreneurs. The results show strength points and improvement areas that should be considerate to encourage entrepreneurship within the Degree of Advertising and Public Relation and it allows the beginning of a specific research roadmap on this issue

Relations between structural and EEG-based graph metrics in healthy controls and schizophrenia patients

Producción CientíficaObjective: To assess using graph-theory properties of both structural and functional networks in schizophrenia patients, as well as the possible prediction of the latter based on the former. Abnormal structural and functional network parameters have been found in schizophrenia, but the dependence of functional network properties on structural alterations has not been described yet in this syndrome. Experimental design: We applied averaged path-length (PL), clustering coefficient (CLC) and density (D) measurements to structural data derived from diffusion magnetic resonance and functional data derived from electroencephalography in 39 schizophrenia patients and 79 controls. Functional data were collected for the global and theta frequency bands with subjects performing an odd-ball task, both prior to stimulus delivery and at the corresponding processing window. Connectivity matrices were constructed respectively from (i) tractography and registered cortical segmentations (structural) and (ii) phase-locking values (functional). Principal observations: In both groups, we observed a significant EEG task-related modulation (change between pre-stimulus and response windows) in the global and theta bands. Patients showed larger structural PL and pre-stimulus density in the global and theta bands, and lower PL task-related modulation in the theta band. Structural network values predicted pre-stimulus global band values in controls and global band task-related modulation in patients. Abnormal functional values found in patients (pre-stimulus density in the global and theta bands and task-related modulation in the theta band) were not predicted by structural data in this group. Structural and functional network abnormalities respectively predicted cognitive performance and positive symptoms in patients. Conclusions: Taken together, the alterations in the structural and functional theta networks in the patients and the lack of significant relations between these alterations, suggest that these types of network abnormalities exist in different groups of schizophrenia patients.This research project was supported in part by grants from Instituto de Salud Carlos III under project PI15/00299, “Gerencia Regional de Salud de Castilla y León” under projects GRS 1263/A/16 and GRS 1485/A/17, and “Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad” and FEDER under grants TEC2014-53196-R and TEC2013-44194-P; by ‘European Commission’ and FEDER under project 'Análisis y correlación entre el genoma completo y la actividad cerebral para la ayuda en el diagnóstico de la enfermedad de Alzheimer' ('Cooperation Programme Interreg V-A Spain-Portugal POCTEP 2014-2020'), and by ‘Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León’ and FEDER under project VA037U16. J. Gomez-Pilar was in receipt of a grant from University of Valladolid and A. Lubeiro was in receipt of a grant from Consejería de Educación de la Junta de Castilla y León

Enfoque clìnico de las habilidades sociales con respecto a la zona de procedencia

Social skills from a clinical approach allow to increase the effectiveness of learned actions with behavioral and personal dimensions. The objective was to analyze the levels of social skills taking into account clinical aspects according to the areas of origin in the territorial division of Ecuador. A quantitative, non-experimental, cross-sectional methodology was established. A sociodemographic card was applied in 8 zones and the social skills scale questionnaire was applied to a population of 213 young people. It was found that zones 2,3,4 have better social development than zones 1,5,7. The places with low social skills correspond to populations that are geographically in the center of the country.Las habilidades sociales desde un enfoque clìnico permiten aumentar la eficacia de acciones aprendidas con dimensiones conductuales y personales. El objetivo fue analizar los niveles de habilidades sociales toamdno en cuenta aspectos clìnicos &nbsp;según las zonas de procedencia en la división territorial del Ecuador. Se establece metodología cuantitativa, no experimental de corte transversal. Se aplicó una ficha sociodemográfica en 8 zonas y el cuestionario de escala de habilidades sociales en una población de 213 jóvenes. Se encuentra que las zonas 2,3,4 tienen mejor desenvolvimiento social que las zonas 1,5,7. Los lugares donde existen habilidades sociales bajas corresponden a poblaciones que geográficamente están en el centro del país

A multivalent Ara-C-prodrug nanoconjugate achieves selective ablation of leukemic cells in an acute myeloid leukemia mouse model

Altres ajuts: EU COST Action CA 17140 ; CIBER-BBN [CB06/01/1031 and 4NanoMets to R.M., VENOM4CANCER to A.V., NANOREMOTE to E.V. and NANOLINK to U·U.] ; CERCA Programme/Generalitat de Catalunya ; ICREA Academia Award. Fundació la Marató de TV3 201-941-30-31-32.Current therapy in acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is based on chemotherapeutic drugs administered at high doses, lacking targeting selectivity and displaying poor therapeutic index because of severe adverse effects. Here, we develop a novel nanoconjugate that combines a self-assembled, multivalent protein nanoparticle, targeting the CXCR4 receptor, with an Oligo-Ara-C prodrug, a pentameric form of Ara-C, to highly increase the delivered payload to target cells. This 13.4 nm T22-GFP-H6-Ara-C nanoconjugate selectively eliminates CXCR4 AML cells, which are protected by its anchoring to the bone marrow (BM) niche, being involved in AML progression and chemotherapy resistance. This nanoconjugate shows CXCR4-dependent internalization and antineoplastic activity in CXCR4 AML cells in vitro. Moreover, repeated T22-GFP-H6-Ara-C administration selectively eliminates CXCR4 leukemic cells in BM, spleen and liver. The leukemic dissemination blockage induced by T22-GFP-H6-Ara-C is significantly more potent than buffer or Oligo-Ara-C-treated mice, showing no associated on-target or off-target toxicity and, therefore, reaching a highly therapeutic window. In conclusion, T22-GFP-H6-Ara-C exploits its 11 ligands-multivalency to enhance target selectivity, while the Oligo-Ara-C prodrug multimeric form increases 5-fold its payload. This feature combination offers an alternative nanomedicine with higher activity and greater tolerability than current intensive or non-intensive chemotherapy for AML patients