Tool to assess teamwork performance in higher education

Objeto: En este trabajo se presenta una herramienta de evaluación del desempeño de un equipo de trabajo que permite tutorizar experiencias de aprendizaje de trabajo en equipo y retroalimentar a los estudiantes en base a unos criterios de mejora definidos. Diseño/metodología: La herramienta se ha diseñado a partir de un modelo creado a partir de una revisión bibliográfica que representa el proceso de trabajo en equipo. A partir de este modelo se ha diseñado un cuestionario que permite medir el funcionamiento de los equipos y se ha utilizado con 53 equipos de trabajo en el Grado en Ingeniería de Organización Industrial de Tecnun-Universidad de Navarra. Aportaciones y resultados: El análisis de los resultados de estos equipos ha permitido obtener información acerca de la idoneidad de la herramienta para valorar el funcionamiento de equipos de trabajo en el ámbito docente. Implicaciones prácticas: El uso de la herramienta a lo largo de un ciclo docente conduce a la progresiva adquisición de la competencia por parte de los alumnos. Implicaciones sociales: El trabajo en equipo es una competencia profesional que demandan las organizaciones y las universidades deberían planificar su desarrollo y evaluación. Valor añadido: El desarrollo de la competencia de trabajo en equipo requiere de diferentes habilidades sociales y de gestión personal que difícilmente se adquieren tan sólo a través de la realización de trabajos en equipo sin disponer de una retroalimentación justificada acerca de cómo el grupo de alumnos trabaja en equipo. Esta herramienta permite tutorizar experiencias de aprendizaje de trabajo en equipo y retroalimentar a los estudiantes en base a unos criterios de mejora definidos.Purpose: In this article, we present a tool for assessing the performance of teamwork activities. The results obtained from this tool can be used to guide teamwork learning and mentor students by giving them feedback on their work. Design/methodology/approach: The tool was based on a model of teamwork effectiveness from the literature. In this sense, analyzing a series of activities performed of by the same team can allow us to know whether the students involved in these activities are acquiring the ability to effectively engage in teamwork. Findings: The tool was used with 53 teams in a Bachelor’s Degree Programme inIndustrial Engineering. In this case, the results were used to analyze whether theproposed tool is suitable for assessing teamwork effectiveness in the university context. Practical implications: This tool will serve to provide feedback to students about the acquisition of their teamwork competency throughout the course of a Bachelor’s Degree. Social implications: Teamwork is a professional ability required by a great number of organizations, and universities should incorporate the development and assessment o fteamwork skills into their degree programmes. Originality/value: Developing this competence requires different social and personalskills, which are very difficult for students to acquire only by engaging in teamwork-building activities.Peer Reviewe

Modelos in vitro de túbulo renal proximal

El túbulo proximal realiza una función fundamental en la nefrona como regulador de la homeostasis, ya que lleva a cabo la labor cuantitativa del riñón, mientras que el resto de la nefrona ajusta lo hecho en el túbulo proximal según las necesidades del organismo. Sin embargo, este segmento es también el más sensible al daño. Por estos motivos se pretenden conocer los mecanismos fisiopatológicos que intervienen en la destrucción y regeneración de estas células. Para su estudio se han desarrollado diversos sistemas in vitro que puedan reproducir las condiciones del tejido in vivo y que a su vez permitan valorar y objetivar parámetros funcionales y morfológicos. Estos sistemas tienen en común que están compuestos por canales microfluídicos por donde se introduce un flujo con medio de cultivo y solutos, separados por una membrana sobre la que se siembran las células. De esta forma, la membrana hace de interfase entre dos medios, uno que sería el tubular, donde se encuentran las células epiteliales de túbulo proximal, y otro el intersticial o vascular. La introducción de un flujo ayuda a la polarización de las células y representa un papel tan importante como la línea celular utilizada o como la matriz sobre la que crece, para determinar sus características fenotípicas y funcionales. Estos dispositivos supondrían una ventaja sobre los modelos de experimentación animal si consiguen reproducir las condiciones in vivo del riñón humano

Effect of Preventive Chlamydia abortus Vaccination in Offspring Development in Sheep Challenged Experimentally

Ovine enzootic abortion, caused by Chlamydia abortus, leads to important economic losses worldwide. In addition to reproductive failures, infection may impact lamb growth during the first weeks after birth, yet this effect has not been well characterized. Vaccination can help to control the disease but variable efficacy values have been described, possibly related with factors associated with the host, the vaccine, the parameter used for efficacy determination and the challenge conditions. In this context, we evaluated the efficacy of an inactivated standard commercial vaccine and a 1/2 diluted dose in pregnant sheep challenged with C. abortus by examining multiple indicators ofvaccine effect (including incidence of reproductive failures, bacterial excretion, and evolution of weight gain of viable lambs during the first month of life). Three groups of ewes [control non-vaccinated, C (n = 18); vaccinated with standard dose, SV (n = 16) and vaccinated with 1/2 dose, DV (n = 17)], were challenged approximately 90 days post-mating and tested using direct PCR (tissue samples and vaginal swabs) and ELISA (serum) until 31 days post-reproductive outcome. There were not significant differences in the proportions of reproductive failures or bacterial shedding after birth/abortion regardless the vaccination protocol. However, a beneficial effect of vaccination on offspring growth was detected in both vaccinated groups compared with the controls, with a mean increase in weight measured at 30 days of life of 1.5 and 2.5 Kg (p = 0.056) and an increase in the geometric mean of the daily gain of 8.4 and 9.7% in lambs born from DV and SV ewes compared to controls, respectively. Our results demonstrate the effect of an inactivated vaccine in the development of the offspring of C. abortus-infected ewes at a standard and a diluted dose, an interesting finding given the difficulty in achieving sufficient antigen concentration in the production of EAE-commercial vaccines

Metal-free organic polymer for the preparation of a reusable antimicrobial material with real-life application as an absorbent food pad

There is a strong need to reduce food waste while maintaining the quality of packaged food. Thus, we have prepared a new fully organic and metal-free antimicrobial polymer, with the aim of increasing both the shelf life and safety of packaged meat. This antimicrobial polymer is based on widely available commercial acrylic monomers with covalently linked vanillin motifs, which are naturally occurring essential oils with antimicrobial characteristics. The film-shaped antibacterial polymeric material shows antibacterial activity for Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Listeria monocytogenes with an R parameter of up to 3.18, 3.37 and 2.00 and inhibition % of up to 99.95%, 99.96%, and 99.02%, respectively. To show the potential of these materials, we conducted a proof of concept experiment in which the antimicrobial polymer film was used as an absorbent food pad. The results show that the use of the antimicrobial polymer film can increase the shelf life of a packaged meat product by 50%. Since the antimicrobial activity is based on a covalently anchored group, there is no antimicrobial agent diffusion, and the antimicrobial activity persists beyond the first use because it is easily washable and reusable for at least 10 cycles.We gratefully acknowledge the financial support provided by FEDER (Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional), the Spanish Agencia Estatal de Investigacion ´ (PID2020–113264RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/50110001 1033) and "La Caixa" Foundation (the project leading to these results has received funding from the "La Caixa" Foundation, under agreement LCF/ PR/PR18/51130007)

Automatic quantification of cardiomyocyte dimensions and connexin 43 lateralization in fluorescence images

Cardiomyocytes’ geometry and connexin 43 (CX43) amount and distribution are structural features that play a pivotal role in electrical conduction. Their quantitative assessment is of high interest in the study of arrhythmias, but it is usually hampered by the lack of automatic tools. In this work, we propose a software algorithm (Myocyte Automatic Retrieval and Tissue Analyzer, MARTA) to automatically detect myocytes from fluorescent microscopy images of cardiac tissue, measure their morphological features and evaluate the expression of CX43 and its degree of lateralization. The proposed software is based on the generation of cell masks, contouring of individual cells, enclosing of cells in minimum area rectangles and splitting of these rectangles into end-to-end and middle compartments to estimate CX43 lateral-to-total ratio. Application to human ventricular tissue images shows that mean differences between automatic and manual methods in terms of cardiomyocyte length and width are below 4 µm. The percentage of lateral CX43 also agrees between automatic and manual evaluation, with the interquartile range approximately covering from 3% to 30% in both cases. MARTA is not limited by fiber orientation and has an optimized speed by using contour filtering, which makes it run hundreds of times faster than a trained expert. Developed for CX43 studies in the left ventricle, MARTA is a flexible tool applicable to morphometric and lateralization studies of other markers in any heart chamber or even skeletal muscle. This open-access software is available online.Fil: Oliver Gelabert, Antoni. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: García Mendívil, Laura. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: Vallejo Gil, José María. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Fresneda Roldán, Pedro Carlos. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Andelová, Katarína. Centre of Experimental Medicine; EslovaquiaFil: Fañanás Mastral, Javier. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Vázquez Sancho, Manuel. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Matamala Adell, Marta. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Sorribas Berjón, Fernando. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Ballester Cuenca, Carlos. University Hospital Miguel Servet; EspañaFil: Tribulova, Narcisa. Centre of Experimental Medicine; EslovaquiaFil: Ordovás, Laura. Universidad de Zaragoza; EspañaFil: Diez, Emiliano Raúl. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Mendoza. Instituto de Medicina y Biología Experimental de Cuyo; ArgentinaFil: Pueyo, Esther. Biomedical Research Networking Center in Bioengineering; España. Universidad de Zaragoza; Españ

Malignant Arrhythmogenic Role Associated with RBM20: A Comprehensive Interpretation Focused on a Personalized Approach

The RBM20 gene encodes the muscle-specific splicing factor RNA-binding motif 20, a regulator of heart-specific alternative splicing. Nearly 40 potentially deleterious variants in RBM20 have been reported in the last ten years, being found to be associated with highly arrhythmogenic events in familial dilated cardiomyopathy. Frequently, malignant arrhythmias can be a primary manifestation of disease. The early recognition of arrhythmic genotypes is crucial in avoiding lethal episodes, as it may have an impact on the adoption of personalized preventive measures. Our study performs a comprehensive update of data concerning rare variants in RBM20 that are associated with malignant arrhythmogenic phenotypes with a focus on personalized medicine.This work was supported by Obra Social "La Caixa Foundation" (LCF/PR/GN16/50290001 and LCF/PR/GN19/50320002), Fondo Investigacion Sanitaria (FIS PI16/01203 and FIS, PI17/01690) from Instituto Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), and "Fundacio Privada Daniel Bravo Andreu". CIBERCV is an initiative of the ISCIII, Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness

Adopting a multidisciplinary telemedicine intervention for fall prevention in Parkinson’s disease. Protocol for a longitudinal, randomized clinical trial

Approximately 40–70% of people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) fall each year, causing decreased activity levels and quality of life. Current fall-prevention strategies include the use of pharmacological and non-pharmacological therapies. To increase the accessibility of this vulnerable population, we developed a multidisciplinary telemedicine program using an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platform. We hypothesized that the risk for falling in PD would decrease among participants receiving a multidisciplinary telemedicine intervention program added to standard office-based neurological care.This work was supported by the project PI19/00670 of the Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovacio´n y Universidades, Instituto de Salud Carlos II, Spain. The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of NVIDIA Corporation and its donation of the TITAN Xp GPUs used in this research

A Collaborative Effort to Define Classification Criteria for ATM Variants in Hereditary Cancer Patients

Background Gene panel testing by massive parallel sequencing has increased the diagnostic yield but also the number of variants of uncertain significance. Clinical interpretation of genomic data requires expertise for each gene and disease. Heterozygous ATM pathogenic variants increase the risk of cancer, particularly breast cancer. For this reason, ATM is included in most hereditary cancer panels. It is a large gene, showing a high number of variants, most of them of uncertain significance. Hence, we initiated a collaborative effort to improve and standardize variant classification for the ATM gene. Methods Six independent laboratories collected information from 766 ATM variant carriers harboring 283 different variants. Data were submitted in a consensus template form, variant nomenclature and clinical information were curated, and monthly team conferences were established to review and adapt American College of Medical Genetics and Genomics/Association for Molecular Pathology (ACMG/AMP) criteria to ATM, which were used to classify 50 representative variants. Results Amid 283 different variants, 99 appeared more than once, 35 had differences in classification among laboratories. Refinement of ACMG/AMP criteria to ATM involved specification for twenty-one criteria and adjustment of strength for fourteen others. Afterwards, 50 variants carried by 254 index cases were classified with the established framework resulting in a consensus classification for all of them and a reduction in the number of variants of uncertain significance from 58% to 42%. Conclusions Our results highlight the relevance of data sharing and data curation by multidisciplinary experts to achieve improved variant classification that will eventually improve clinical management.FEDER funds-a way to build Europe PI19/00553 PI16/00563 PI16/01898 SAF2015-68016-RGeneralitat de Catalunya 2017SGR1282 2017SGR496CERCA Program: Government of CataloniaXunta de GaliciaInstituto de Salud Carlos III. AES PI19/00340Spanish Government SAF2016-80255-REuropean Commission EFA086/15Instituto de Salud Carlos III European Commissio