Monitoring Asthma in Childhood: Still a Challenge

Asthma monitoring should be focused on patient outcomes and goals. Using clinical practice tools allows the clinicians to detect problems such as bad adherence to maintenance therapy, comorbidities, or other external reason for a poorly controlled asthma. To succeed in the process of asthma control, doctors need the participation of the family. Because such educational task requires good agreement between patient environment and doctor, it might be difficult to achieve. However, it is worth to implement because the benefit is a life without symptoms of asthma with a minimum medication

Analyzing the Importance of Marking Links to Special Targets in Mobile Web

Literature points out the importance of indicating when a link opens a different website in a new window, since this is the default behavior that users expect, but this problem has not been specifically studied in mobile devices yet. This paper explains a study that was carried out with 20 different mobile devices and 19 users. We compared the usability of opening links in the same window or in a new one, informing or not informing the user about the target, as well as the convenience of using icons or text to inform about the target of a link. Results show that 95% of the devices used for the experiment had browser multi-window support, and we conclude that mobile users prefer to be previously informed when a link opens in a new window, and that the preferred method for informing them is using an icon instead of a text

How to match the optimal currently available inhaler device to an individual child with asthma or recurrent wheeze

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A New Competence-based Approach for Personalizing MOOCs in a Mobile Collaborative and Networked Environment

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are a new disruptive development in higher education that combines openness and scalability in a most powerful way. They have the potential to widen participation in higher education. Thus, they contribute to social inclusion, the dissemination of knowledge and pedagogical innovation and also the internationalization of higher education institutions. However, one of the critical elements for a massive open language learning experience to be successful is to empower learners and to facilitate networked learning experiences. In fact, MOOCs are designed for an undefined number of participants, thus serving a high heterogeneity of profiles, with diverse learning styles and prior knowledge, and also contexts of participation and diversity of online platforms. Personalization can play a key role in this process. The iMOOC pedagogical model introduced the notion of diversity to MOOC design, allowing for a clear differentiation of learning paths and also virtual environments. In this article, the authors present a proposal based on the iMOOC approach for a new framework for personalizing and adapting MOOCs designed in a collaborative, networked pedagogical approach by identifying each participant's competence profile and prior knowledge, as well as the respective mobile communication device used to generate matching personalized learning. This article also shows the results obtained in a laboratory environment after an experiment has been performed with a prototype of the framework. It can be observed that creating personalized learning paths is possible and the next step is to test this framework with real experimental groups.Los cursos en línea masivos y abiertos (MOOC) son una nueva tendencia rompedora en la educación superior. Estos cursos combinan la propiedad de ser abiertos con la posibilidad de ser escalables de una forma muy potente. Tienen el potencial de permitir la participación en la educación superior para todas las personas, a todos los niveles. Por lo tanto, contribuyen a la inclusión social, la difusión del conocimiento y la innovación pedagógica, así como la internalización de las instituciones de educación superior. Sin embargo, uno de los elementos críticos para que tenga éxito una experiencia de aprendizaje de forma abierta y masiva es potenciar y facilitar una red de aprendizaje. De hecho, los MOOC no están diseñados para un número predefinido de participantes por lo que sirven para un alto número de perfiles heterogéneos, con diversidad de estilos de aprendizaje y conocimientos previos, pero también contextos de participación y diversidad de plataformas online. La personalización puede desempeñar un papel clave en este proceso. El modelo pedagógico iMOOC introdujo el principio de diversidad en el diseño de MOOC, permitiendo una clara diferenciación de caminos de aprendizaje y también entornos virtuales. En este artículo los autores presentan una propuesta basada en el enfoque de iMOOC, sobre un nuevo sistema para la personalización y adaptación de MOOC diseñados en un enfoque colaborativo y en una red pedagógica. El mecanismo es identificar cada competencia del perfil de los participantes, el conocimiento previo que estos tienen así como detectar sus respectivos dispositivos móviles, y se genera un camino de aprendizaje personalizado en base a estos parámetros. Este artículo también muestra los resultados obtenidos en un entorno de laboratorio después de un experimento llevado a cabo con un prototipo del sistema. Se puede observar que es posible crear caminos de aprendizaje personalizados y que el siguiente paso es probar este sistema con grupos experimentales reales

T35: a small automatic telescope for long-term observing campaigns

The T35 is a small telescope (14") equipped with a large format CCD camera installed in the Sierra Nevada Observatory (SNO) in Southern Spain. This telescope will be a useful tool for the detecting and studying pulsating stars, particularly, in open clusters. In this paper, we describe the automation process of the T35 and show also some images taken with the new instrumentation.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures. Accepted for publication in the special issue "Robotic Astronomy" of Advances of Astronom

An experiment of social-gamification in Massive Open Oline Courses: The ECO iMOOC

This work is co-funded by the ECO project (funded by European Commission – Competitiveness and Innovation Framework Programme (CIP)) and the GAMIMOOC project (“TIN2014-54874-R – Framework motivacional utilizando gamificacion y redes sociales en Cursos Masivos Abiertos Online”, funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Combined impact of healthy lifestyle factors on risk of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema in school children: ISAAC phase III

Background Asthma is not the key focus of prevention strategies. A Healthy Lifestyle Index (HLI) was developed to examine the combined effect of modifiable lifestyle factors on asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema using data from the International Study of Asthma and Allergies in Childhood (ISAAC) phase III. Methods Information on symptoms of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis, eczema and several lifestyle factors was obtained from children aged 6–7 years through written questionnaires. The HLI combined five lifestyle factors: no parental smoking, child’s adherence to Mediterranean diet, child’s healthy body mass index, high physical activity and non-sedentary behaviour. The association between the HLI and risk of asthma, rhinoconjunctivitis and eczema was evaluated using multilevel mixed-effects logistic regression models. Findings Data of 70 795 children from 37 centres in 19 countries were analysed. Each additional healthy lifestyle factor was associated with a reduced risk of current wheeze (OR 0.87, 95% CI 0.84 to 0.89), asthma ever (OR 0.89, 95% CI 0.87 to 0.92), current symptoms of rhinoconjunctivitis (OR 0.95, 95% CI 0.92 to 0.97) and current symptoms of eczema (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.92 to 0.98). Theoretically, if associations were causal, a combination of four or five healthy lifestyle factors would result into a reduction up to 16% of asthma cases (ranging from 2.7% to 26.3 % according to region of the world). Conclusions These findings should be interpreted with caution given the limitations to infer causality from cross-sectional observational data. Efficacy of interventions to improve multiple modifiable lifestyle factors to reduce the burden asthma and allergy in childhood should be assessed

Efeito do fitofármaco Mentaliv® sobre funções de neutrófilos e eosinófilos

Mentha piperita L. has been studied by our group as a possible phytopharmacological drug for treatment of diseases that promote intense inflammatory responses mediated by eosinophils and neutrophils. Thus, the analysis of antioxidant effects and cytokine production by these cells is important to understand the effect of these compounds on the innate and effector phase of adaptive immune response. In this way, an essential oil from M. piperita (Mentaliv®) was used and the myeloperodase enzyme activity (MPO) in neutrophils was evaluated by luminol-dependent chemiluminescence assay (QLDLum) and lucigenin (QLDLuc). The levels of IL-4, IL-6 and TNF-α and QLDLum in eosinophils were also evaluated. Our results showed an inhibition of the production of superoxide anionic radicals and NADPH oxidase in neutrophils after the essential M. piperita oil treatment. However, IL-4 levels were increased after treatment. These data suggest that this phytopharmaceutical has anti-inflammatory activity, by controlling the secreted products during the inflammatory responses, mainly as can occur during infections and chronic inflammatory processes of several diseases, which present a strong tissue eosinophilia with significant presence of PMN in blood and tissue.A Mentha piperita L. tem sido estudada pelo nosso grupo como possível fitofármaco para tratamento de doenças que promovem respostas inflamatórias intensa, mediadas por eosinófilos e neutrofilos. Assim, analisar os efeitos antioxidantes e produção de citocinas por essas células é importante para entender o efeito desses compostos na resposta imune inata e efetora. Dessa forma, utilizou-se um fitofármaco proveniente da M piperita e avaliou a enzima MPO em neutrófilos por meio da quimiluminescência dependente de luminol (QLDLum) e da lucigenina. E os níveis de IL-4, IL-6 e TNF-α e a QLDLum em eosinófilos. Nossos resultados demonstraram que em neutrófilos houve inibição da produção de radical ânion superóxido e da NADPH oxidase após tratamento com o fitofármaco. Entretando, os níveis de IL-4 foi maior após o tratamento. Esses dados sugerem que esse fitofármaco apresenta atividade anti-inflamatória, por meio do controle dos produtos secretados durante as respostas inflamatórias, principalmente como pode ocorrer durante infecções e processos inflamatórios crônicos de diversas doenças, onde se observa uma acentuada eosinofilia tecidual, com presença significativa de PMN no sangue e no tecido.

Convertidor semi controlado CA-CD

La asignatura de electrónica de potencia representa un ambiente interactivo de enseñanza-aprendizaje, que permite a los estudiantes estar presentes en una zona de desarrollo próximo (ZDP) y dispuestos a la asimilación de nuevos conocimientos. Como una ZDP requiere que se establezcan estrategias didácticas que promuevan: el aprendizaje situado realizando prácticas de laboratorio; las comunidades de aprendizaje, fomentado el aprendizaje autónomo y colaborativo; el aprendizaje por imitación mediante el manejo de la instrumentación y la adquisición del conocimiento teórico mediante sesiones presenciales. Es de alto interés por los autores que en este trabajo a través del desarrollo de una fuente de CA-CC semicontrolada, se organice el conocimiento y la documentación necesaria para generar una ZDP, y que mediante la estrategia de la práctica de laboratorio sea posible reproducirla a nivel de licenciatura. Para ello se explicita la experiencia por medio de la descripción del proceso de transferencia del conocimiento teórico al pragmático, de manera que sea posible conceptualizar por medio de un control de cruce por cero la manipulación de un motor de CD utilizando un convertidor CA-CD, experimentación que involucra elementos, funcionamiento y aplicación de la electrónica de potencia que ambienta una ZDP transferible al grado de licenciatura, a favor del proceso enseñanza-aprendizaje de la tecnología eléctrica-electrónica en las instituciones de educación superior