Teaching science and history in secondary education. Relationship between conceptions, feelings and uses of technology

The aim of the research was to study in depth Science and History teachers working at a secondary school level and to describe how technology was being used in the classroom by this group of teachers. The first section of this study presents a complete review of the literature on conceptions of teaching and learning, conceptions of science and history, feelings and emotions, and the use of technology in the classroom. The second part presents the results of the analysis of these topics. The study was based on a questionnaire given to a total of 216 teachers from Utah, and data were analyzed using SPSS software. Firstly, a descriptive and factorial analysis was carried out to evaluate and describe the different factors and their outcomes. Afterwards, a correlation analysis was conducted to establish the degree to which two variables were related. Thirdly, a multiple regression analysis was performed to identify the relationship between different variables. Finally, a cluster analysis was completed to identify aspects with similar characteristics that could be included in the same group. The analysis of the variables involved in this study resulted in the appearance of significant correlations among all types of teachers. It was found that being a traditional or constructivist teacher had no effect on the use of technology. In the end, two well-differentiated profiles were determined for History and Science teachers.El objetivo de esta investigación fue el de profundizar en el estudio de profesores de ciencias e historia que realizan su tarea en el nivel de secundaria, y describir su uso de la tecnología en el aula. La primera sección de este estudio presenta una revisión exhaustiva de la bibliografía sobre las concepciones de enseñar y aprender, las concepciones de ciencias e historia, los sentimientos y emociones, y el uso de la tecnología en el aula. La segunda parte presenta los resultados del análisis de estos temas. El estudio propone un cuestionario aplicado a un total de 216 profesores de Utah y los datos fueron analizados utilizando el software SPSS. Primero fue un análisis descriptivo y factorial para evaluar y describir los diferentes factores y sus resultados, luego se realizó un análisis de correlaciones para establecer el grado en el que dos variables están relacionadas, en tercer lugar se realizó un análisis de regresión múltiple para identificar la relación establecida entre estas variables, y finalmente se completó un análisis de clúster para identificar aspectos de características similares que podrían incluirse dentro de un mismo grupo. El análisis de las variables implicadas en este estudio dio como resultado la aparición de correlaciones significativas entre todo tipo de maestros. Sin embargo, ser un profesor tradicional o constructivista no afectaría el uso de la tecnología. Finalmente, aparecieron dos perfiles bien diferenciados de profesores tanto de historia como de ciencias.L'objectiu d'aquesta recerca ha estat aprofundir en l'estudi de professors de ciències i d'història que exerceixen la seva tasca en el nivell de secundària, i descriure l'ús que fan de la tecnologia a l'aula. El primer apartat d'aquest estudi presenta una revisió exhaustiva de la bibliografia sobre les concepcions de l'ensenyament i l'aprenentatge, les concepcions de la ciència i la història, els sentiments i les emocions, i l'ús de la tecnologia a l'aula. La segona part presenta els resultats de l'anàlisi d'aquests temes. L'estudi proposa un qüestionari implantat a un total de 216 professors de Utah i les dades han estat analitzades utilitzant el programari SPSS. Primer es va fer una anàlisi factorial i descriptiva per a avaluar i descriure els diferents factors i els seus resultats, després es va dur a terme una anàlisi de correlacions per a establir el grau en el qual es relacionen dues variables, en tercer lloc es va fer una anàlisi de regressió múltiple per a identificar la relació entre aquestes variables i finalment es va completar una anàlisi de clúster per a identificar aspectes de característiques similars que es podrien incloure en el mateix grup. L'anàlisi de les variables que intervenen en aquest estudi ha donat com a resultat l'aparició de correlacions significatives entre tots els tipus de professors. Tanmateix, ser un professor tradicional o constructivista no afectaria l'ús de la tecnologia. Finalment, han aparegut dos perfils ben diferenciats de professors tant d'història com de ciències

Insights into the molecular determinants of thermal stability in halohydrin dehalogenase HheD2

Halohydrin dehalogenases (HHDHs) are promising enzymes for application in biocatalysis due to their promiscuous epoxide ring-opening activity with various anionic nucleophiles. So far, seven different HHDH subtypes A to G have been reported with subtype D containing the by far largest number of enzymes. Moreover, several characterized members of subtype D have been reported to display outstanding characteristics such as high catalytic activity, broad substrate spectra or remarkable thermal stability. Yet, no structure of a D-type HHDH has been reported to date that could be used to investigate and understand those features on a molecular level. We therefore solved the crystal structure of HheD2 from gamma proteobacterium HTCC2207 at 1.6 Å resolution and used it as a starting point for targeted mutagenesis in combination with molecular dynamics (MD) simulation, in order to study the low thermal stability of HheD2 in comparison with other members of subtype D. This revealed a hydrogen bond between conserved residues Q160 and D198 to be connected with a high catalytic activity of this enzyme. Moreover, a flexible surface region containing two α-helices was identified to impact thermal stability of HheD2. Exchange of this surface region by residues of HheD3 yielded a variant with 10 °C higher melting temperature and reaction temperature optimum. Overall, our results provide important insights into the structure-function relationship of HheD2 and presumably for other D-type HHDHs. DATABASES: Structural data are available in PDB database under the accession number 7B73

Capacidad predictiva del modelo BCRAPro frente al profesional de enfermería en la selección de candidatos a estudio genético de cáncer de mama u ovario hereditario

Objetivo: Comparar la capacidad predictiva del modelo predictivo BRCAPro y de los profesionales de enfermería con distintos niveles de formación/experiencia en la identificación de familias susceptibles de ser estudiadas genéticamente dada su historia personal y familiar de cáncer de mama. Método: Estudio descriptivo en el que 2 enfermeras con diferente grado de formación en consejo genético han estimado la probabilidad de ser portador de mutación en los genes BRCA1/BRCA2 de 157 familias. Se calculó la sensibilidad, especificidad, valor predictivo positivo (VPP) y valor predictivo negativo (VPN) de ambas enfermeras y del BRCAPro. Resultados: La enfermera con menor experiencia demostró mayor especificidad (N2:0,84) frente a la enfermera con mayor experiencia (N1:0,23) o a BRCAPro (0,47). La sensibilidad de las profesionales de enfermería fue de 0,95 (N1) y del 0,28 (N2), mientras que la de BRCAPro fue del 0,74. El VPP fue similar en las tres situaciones. El VPN de la enfermera con mayor experiencia (0,93) fue superior al de BRCAPro (0,85) y la enfermera con menor experiencia (0,72). Conclusiones: La experiencia clínica aporta una alta sensibilidad pero a costa de una pérdida significativa de especificidad. El modelo de predicción BRCAPro obtiene valores intermedios entre ambas enfermeras, por lo que podría ser una herramienta que ayudase a mejorar aquellos valores en los que se obtiene menor puntuación, es decir, la especificidad y VPP para enfermeras con mayor experiencia y la sensibilidad y VPN para aquellas con menor experiencia

Prediction of absolute risk of fragility fracture at 10 years in a Spanish population: validation of the WHO FRAX ™ tool in Spain

Background: Age-related bone loss is asymptomatic, and the morbidity of osteoporosis is secondary to the fractures that occur. Common sites of fracture include the spine, hip, forearm and proximal humerus. Fractures at the hip incur the greatest morbidity and mortality and give rise to the highest direct costs for health services. Their incidence increases exponentially with age. Independently changes in population demography, the age - and sex- specific incidence of osteoporotic fractures appears to be increasing in developing and developed countries. This could mean more than double the expected burden of osteoporotic fractures in the next 50 years. Methods/Design: To assess the predictive power of the WHO FRAX (TM) tool to identify the subjects with the highest absolute risk of fragility fracture at 10 years in a Spanish population, a predictive validation study of the tool will be carried out. For this purpose, the participants recruited by 1999 will be assessed. These were referred to scan-DXA Department from primary healthcare centres, non hospital and hospital consultations. Study population: Patients attended in the national health services integrated into a FRIDEX cohort with at least one Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurement and one extensive questionnaire related to fracture risk factors. Measurements: At baseline bone mineral density measurement using DXA, clinical fracture risk factors questionnaire, dietary calcium intake assessment, history of previous fractures, and related drugs. Follow up by telephone interview to know fragility fractures in the 10 years with verification in electronic medical records and also to know the number of falls in the last year. The absolute risk of fracture will be estimated using the FRAX (TM) tool from the official web site. Discussion: Since more than 10 years ago numerous publications have recognised the importance of other risk factors for new osteoporotic fractures in addition to low BMD. The extension of a method for calculating the risk (probability) of fractures using the FRAX (TM) tool is foreseeable in Spain and this would justify a study such as this to allow the necessary adjustments in calibration of the parameters included in the logarithmic formula constituted by FRAX (TM

Correction: Dueñas et al. Assessing effectiveness of colonic and gynecological risk reducing surgery in Lynch syndrome individuals. Cancers 2020, 12, 3419.

In the original article, there was a mistake in Figure 3 as published [1]. The image presented corresponded to endometrial cancer-specific mortality cumulative incidence, instead of the figure referred to in the title (all-cause mortality cumulative incidence)

ANALYSIS OF THE CLIMATOLOGICAL WATER BALANCE OF THE WATERSHAD ALTO CAMAQUÃ

This work was carried out in the sub-basin called Alto Camaquã, belonging to the Pampa Biome in a region considered stable and of high importance for the conservation of biodiversity. The main economic and socio-cultural activity of the region is family farming, which is also fundamental for the maintenance of the biome due to the coexistence of the field / livestock. In order to understand the behavior of the basin in relation to the months of major deficits and water surpluses, two different methods of spatialization of the results were tested. The main difference between the two methods lies in the determination of CAD. The BHC was calculated for three different rain behaviors: Normal Year; Dry Years; and Rainy Year. The methodologies studied demonstrated great efficiency in the calculation of BHC. The differences that occur in the both methods do not modify the general behavior of the basin and, therefore, do not cause significant differences in what concerns deficits and water excess. However, the second method is more efficient for regions with higher variability of the soil use. The results show that family ranchers suffer from many months of water deficit

Germline mutations in the spindle assembly checkpoint genes BUB1 and BUB3 are infrequent in familial colorectal cancer and polyposis

Germline mutations in BUB1 and BUB3 have been reported to increase the risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC) at young age, in presence of variegated aneuploidy and reminiscent dysmorphic traits of mosaic variegated aneuploidy syndrome. We performed a mutational analysis of BUB1 and BUB3 in 456 uncharacterized mismatch repair-proficient hereditary non-polyposis CRC families and 88 polyposis cases. Four novel or rare germline variants, one splice-site and three missense, were identified in four families. Neither variegated aneuploidy nor dysmorphic traits were observed in carriers. Evident functional effects in the heterozygous form were observed for c.1965-1G>A, but not for c.2296G>A (p.E766K), in spite of the positive co-segregation in the family. BUB1 c.2473C>T (p.P825S) and BUB3 c.77C>T (p.T26I) remained as variants of uncertain significance. As of today, the rarity of functionally relevant mutations identified in familial and/or early onset series does not support the inclusion of BUB1 and BUB3 testing in routine genetic diagnostics of familial CRC

Comprehensive Constitutional Genetic and Epigenetic Characterization of Lynch-Like Individuals

The causal mechanism for cancer predisposition in Lynch-like syndrome (LLS) remains unknown. Our aim was to elucidate the constitutional basis of mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency in LLS patients throughout a comprehensive (epi)genetic analysis. One hundred and fifteen LLS patients harboring MMR-deficient tumors and no germline MMR mutations were included. Mutational analysis of 26 colorectal cancer (CRC)-associated genes was performed. Pathogenicity of MMR variants was assessed by splicing and multifactorial likelihood analyses. Genome-wide methylome analysis was performed by the Infinium Human Methylation 450K Bead Chip. The multigene panel analysis revealed the presence of two MMR gene truncating mutations not previously found. Of a total of 15 additional MMR variants identified, five -present in 6 unrelated individuals- were reclassified as pathogenic. In addition, 13 predicted deleterious variants in other CRC-predisposing genes were found in 12 probands. Methylome analysis detected one constitutionalMLH1epimutation, but no additional differentially methylated regions were identified in LLS compared to LS patients or cancer-free individuals. In conclusion, the use of an ad-hoc designed gene panel combined with pathogenicity assessment of variants allowed the identification of deleterious MMR mutations as well as new LLS candidate causal genes. Constitutional epimutations in non-LS-associated genes are not responsible for LLS

Prediction of absolute risk of fragility fracture at 10 years in a Spanish population: validation of the WHO FRAX ™ tool in Spain

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Age-related bone loss is asymptomatic, and the morbidity of osteoporosis is secondary to the fractures that occur. Common sites of fracture include the spine, hip, forearm and proximal humerus. Fractures at the hip incur the greatest morbidity and mortality and give rise to the highest direct costs for health services. Their incidence increases exponentially with age.</p> <p>Independently changes in population demography, the age - and sex- specific incidence of osteoporotic fractures appears to be increasing in developing and developed countries. This could mean more than double the expected burden of osteoporotic fractures in the next 50 years.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>To assess the predictive power of the WHO FRAX™ tool to identify the subjects with the highest absolute risk of fragility fracture at 10 years in a Spanish population, a predictive validation study of the tool will be carried out. For this purpose, the participants recruited by 1999 will be assessed. These were referred to scan-DXA Department from primary healthcare centres, non hospital and hospital consultations. Study population: Patients attended in the national health services integrated into a FRIDEX cohort with at least one Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) measurement and one extensive questionnaire related to fracture risk factors. Measurements: At baseline bone mineral density measurement using DXA, clinical fracture risk factors questionnaire, dietary calcium intake assessment, history of previous fractures, and related drugs. Follow up by telephone interview to know fragility fractures in the 10 years with verification in electronic medical records and also to know the number of falls in the last year. The absolute risk of fracture will be estimated using the FRAX™ tool from the official web site.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>Since more than 10 years ago numerous publications have recognised the importance of other risk factors for new osteoporotic fractures in addition to low BMD. The extension of a method for calculating the risk (probability) of fractures using the FRAX™ tool is foreseeable in Spain and this would justify a study such as this to allow the necessary adjustments in calibration of the parameters included in the logarithmic formula constituted by FRAX™.</p

Measuring health-related quality of life in men with osteoporosis or osteoporotic fracture

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Osteoporosis is a serious health problem that worsens the quality of life and the survival rate of individuals with this disease on account the osteoporotic fractures. Studies have long focused on women, and its presence in men has been underestimated. While many studies conducted in different countries mainly assess health-related quality of life and identify fracture risks factors in women, few data are available on a Spanish male population.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>Observational study.</p> <p>Study population</p> <p>Men ≥ 40 years of age with/without diagnosed osteoporosis and with/without osteoporotic fracture included by their family doctor.</p> <p>Measurements</p> <p>The relationship between customary clinical risk factors for osteoporotic fracture and health-related quality of life in a Spanish male population. A telephone questionnaire on health-related quality of life is made.</p> <p>Statistical analysis</p> <p>The association between qualitative variables will be assessed by the Chi-square test. The distribution of quantitative variables by Student's t-test. If the conditions for using this test are not met, the non-parametric Mann-Whitney's U test will be used.</p> <p>The validation of the results obtained by the FRAX™ tool will be performed by way of the Hosmer-Lemeshow test and by calculating the area under the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve (AUC). All tests will be performed with a confidence intervals set at 95%.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>The applicability and usefulness of Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) studies are well documented in many countries. These studies allow implementing cost-effective measures in cases of a given disease and reducing the costly consequences derived therefrom. This study attempts to provide objective data on how quality of life is affected by the clinical aspects involved in osteoporosis in a Spanish male population and can be useful as well in cost utility analyses conducted by health authorities.</p> <p>The sample selected is not based on a high fracture risk group. Rather, it is composed of men in the general population, and accordingly comparisons should not lead to erroneous interpretations.</p> <p>A possible bias correction will be ensured by checking reported fractures against healthcare reports and X-rays, or by consulting health care centers as applicable.</p