Tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase promotes axonal growth of hippocampal neurons

Axonal growth is essential for establishing neuronal circuits during brain development and for regenerative processes in the adult brain. Unfortunately, the extracellular signals controlling axonal growth are poorly understood. Here we report that a reduction in extracellular ATP levels by tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) is essential for the development of neuritic processes by cultured hippocampal neurons. Selective blockade of TNAP activity with levamisole or specific TNAP knockdown with short hairpin RNA interference inhibited the growth and branching of principal axons, whereas addition of alkaline phosphatase (ALP) promoted axonal growth. Neither activation nor inhibition of adenosine receptors affected the axonal growth, excluding the contribution of extracellular adenosine as a potential hydrolysis product of extracellular ATP to the TNAP-mediated effects. TNAP was colocalized at axonal growth cones with ionotropic ATP receptors (P2X7 receptor), whose activation inhibited axonal growth. Additional analyses suggested a close functional interrelation of TNAP and P2X7 receptors whereby TNAP prevents P2X7 receptor activation by hydrolyzing ATP in the immediate environment of the receptor. Furthermore inhibition of P2X7 receptor reduced TNAP expression, whereas addition of ALP enhanced P2X7 receptor expression. Our results demonstrate that TNAP, regulating both ligand availability and protein expression of P2X7 receptor, is essential for axonal development

Assessment action of physical education teachers: A multi-case study

La acción evaluativa se asume como todas las actividades que realiza el docente en la fase interactiva de la enseñanza, que están enfocadas en la evaluación y reflejan su pensamiento práctico. Si bien se entiende que esa acción evaluativa constituye una globalidad, analizar cada uno de los elementos que componen la evaluación (momentos, actores, instrumentos y contenidos) permite identificar mejor las tramas y relaciones de esta acción global. El objetivo del estudio fue analizar la acción evaluativa durante una unidad didáctica de un grupo de profesores de educación física de educación secundaria y media de Medellín (Colombia). La investigación se realizó mediante un diseño cualitativo, específicamente con un enfoque metodológico de estudio de caso múltiple. La recolección de la información se realizó por medio de la observación a través de la grabación en audio y video de todas las sesiones de clase de cada docente (51 en total) y el análisis documental. Entre los principales hallazgos se encuentran que la tradición sumativa y acreditadora de la evaluación influye fuertemente en la acción evaluativa del profesorado. Esta postura se ve reflejada en la recolección de información asistemática, la carencia de instrumentos y criterios concretos y, especialmente, en el protagonismo otorgando a la calificación y cómo ella permea todo el proceso evaluativoThe assessment action is assumed as all the activities carried out by the teacher in the interactive phase of teaching, focused on the assessment and reflect the practical thinking of teacher. Although it is understood that this assessment action constitutes a totality, analyzing each of the elements that makeup the assessment (moments, actors, instruments and contents) allows to identify the plots and relationships of a better way. The objective of this study was to analyze the assessment action during a didactic unit of a group of Physical Education teachers of middle and high school of Medellin (Colombia). The research was conducted through a qualitative design, specifically with a methodological approach of multiple case study. The information was collected through observation using audio and video recording of all class sessions of every teacher (a total of) and documentary analysis. Among the main findings are that the summative and accrediting tradition of the assessment strongly influences the assessment action of the teachers. This position is reflected in the collection of unsystematic information, the lack of specific instruments and criteria, especially, in the leading role in awarding the grade and how it permeates the entire assessment proces

Improving detection of apneic events by learning from examples and treatment of missing data

The final publication is available at IOS Press through http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/978-1-61499-474-9-213[Abstract] This paper presents a comparative study over the respiratory pattern classification task involving three missing data imputation techniques, and four different machine learning algorithms. The main goal was to find a classifier that achieves the best accuracy results using a scalable imputation method in comparison to the method used in a previous work of the authors. The results obtained show that the Self-organization maps imputation method allows any classifier to achieve improvements over the rest of the imputation methods, and that the Feedforward neural network classifier offers the best performance regardless the imputation method used

Automatic classification of respiratory patterns involving missing data imputation techniques

[Abstract] A comparative study of the respiratory pattern classification task, involving five missing data imputation techniques and several machine learning algorithms is presented in this paper. The main goal was to find a classifier that achieves the best accuracy results using a scalable imputation method in comparison to the method used in a previous work of the authors. The results obtained show that in general, the Self-Organising Map imputation method allows non-tree based classifiers to achieve improvements over the rest of the imputation methods in terms of the classification accuracy, and that the Feedforward neural network and the Random Forest classifiers offer the best performance regardless of the imputation method used. The improvements in terms of accuracy over the previous work of the authors are limited but the Feed Forward neural network model achieves promising results.Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; TIN 2013-40686-PXunta de Galicia; GRC2014/35

Revisión bibliográfica de los tratamientos fisioterapéuticos para los trastornos temporomandibulares. Protocolo de abordaje fisioterápico. A propósito de un caso clínico.

Introducción: Actualmente, los trastornos temporomandibulares tienen una gran incidencia y prevalencia en la población española y europea, además de presentar dificultades en la realización de ciertas actividades de la vida diaria. Es por ello que la fisioterapia tiene un papel de suma importancia a la hora de tratar y reducir estas alteraciones de la ATM. Sin embargo, son pocos los estudios en los que se unifica un protocolo de tratamiento de fisioterapia específico dirigido a los TTM. Objetivo: conocer los diferentes tratamientos fisioterapéuticos aplicados sobre la ATM y sus trastornos, para posteriormente crear y aplicar un protocolo de intervención de fisioterapia con los tratamientos y técnicas más eficaces. Metodología: se realizó una revisión bibliográfica a través de diferentes bases de datos y motores de búsqueda para revisar los diferentes tratamientos de fisioterapia sobre los TTM. Posteriormente se elaboró un protocolo de intervención de fisioterapia aplicado sobre una paciente con un TTM. Resultados: se seleccionaron 18 artículos para la revisión bibliográfica, en los cuales se trata los trastornos temporomandibulares a través de diferentes técnicas de fisioterapia. Mediante una ficha técnica de valoración fisioterapéutica aplicada sobre un paciente, se obtuvo una serie de datos y hallazgos sobre la ATM y sus trastornos. Conclusión: no hay un modelo y parámetros específicos de tratamiento sobre la ATM y sus trastornos, de manera que se requiere de la creación de un protocolo de intervención por parte del fisioterapeuta para las alteraciones de la ATM, tanto en el ámbito curativo, como el preventivo y educativo.Introduction: temporomandibular disorders currently have a high incidence and prevalence in the Spanish and European population, in addition to presenting difficulties in carrying out certain daily life activities. That is why physiotherapy plays an utmost importance role when it comes to treating and reducing these TMJ alterations. However, there are few studies in which a specific physiotherapy treatment protocol, aimed at TMDs, is unified. Objective: to know the different physiotherapeutic treatments applied to the TMJ and its disorders, in order to subsequently create and apply a physiotherapy intervention protocol with the most effective treatments and techniques. Methodology: a bibliographic review was carried out through different databases and search engines to review the different physiotherapy treatments on TMD. A physiotherapy intervention protocol, applied to a patient with a TMD, was developed afterwards. Results: 18 articles were selected for the bibliographic review, in which temporomandibular disorders are treated through different physiotherapy techniques. Through a physical therapy assessment sheet applied to a patient, a series of data and findings, related to TMJ and its disorders, were obtained. Conclusion: there is no guideline or specific treatment parameters for the TMJ and its disorders, so the creation of an intervention protocol by the physiotherapist is required, both in the curative field, as well as in the preventive and educational field

Automatic detection of EEG arousals

[Abstract] Fragmented sleep is commonly caused by arousals that can be detected with the observation of electroencephalographic (EEG) signals. As this is a time consuming task, automatization processes are required. A method using signal processing and machine learning models, for arousal detection, is presented. Relevant events are identified in the EEG signals and in the electromyography, during the signal processing phase. After discarding those events that do not meet the required characteristics, the resulting set is used to extract multiple parameters. Several machine learning models — Fisher’s Linear Discriminant, Artificial Neural Networks and Support Vector Machines — are fed with these parameters. The final proposed model, a combination of the different individual models, was used to conduct experiments on 26 patients, reporting a sensitivity of 0.72 and a specificity of 0.89, while achieving an error of 0.13, in the arousal events detection.Galicia. Consellería de Cultura, Educación e Ordenación Universitaria; GRC2014/035Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad; TIN2013-40686

Intelligent approach for analysis of respiratory signals and oxygen saturation in the sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome

doi: 10.2174/1874431101408010001This work deals with the development of an intelligent approach for clinical decision making in the diagnosis of the Sleep Apnea/Hypopnea Syndrome, SAHS, from the analysis of respiratory signals and oxygen saturation in arterial blood, SaO2. In order to accomplish the task the proposed approach makes use of different artificial intelligence techniques and reasoning processes being able to deal with imprecise data. These reasoning processes are based on fuzzy logic and on temporal analysis of the information. The developed approach also takes into account the possibility of artifacts in the monitored signals. Detection and characterization of signal artifacts allows detection of false positives. Identification of relevant diagnostic patterns and temporal correlation of events is performed through the implementation of temporal constraints

Nanocrystallization of the Cd3Al2Ge3O12 Garnet in Glasses of the CdO-TeO2-GeO2 System

In this study, a series of glasses of the system xCdO-10TeO2-(90−x)GeO2 were fabricated, varying the modifier oxide content from 10 to 80 wt%. According to XRD analysis, partial crystallization occurred for the glass 60CdO.10TeO2.30GeO2 presenting the formation of GeO2 and CdTeO3; the 70CdO.10TeO2.20GeO2 glass shows sharp diffraction peaks corresponding to the Cd3Al2Ge3O12 garnet crystalline phase. Transmission electron microscopy showed that the garnet crystals have sizes below 20 nm. At the highest concentration of CdO (80 wt%), a transparent orange glass can be obtained, and this sample can be identified as an inverted glass where CdO participates as a network former. The optical band gap of the glasses decreases as CdO content increases from 3.91 to 3.0 eV. In general, all glasses show a typical broad emission when excited with UV light (325 nm); chromatic coordinates were calculated and pointed out the presence of emissions in the white, green, and yellow regions. In summary, the obtained glasses are a promising material for IR technologies, nonlinear optics, and design of solid state lighting devices