Diferencias entre métodos de lengua extranjera en relación con la comprensión lectora y conciencia lingüística

The present paper reports on the effectiveness of the Grammar-Translation Method, Communicative Language Teaching and Content and Language Integrated Learning upon reading comprehension and language awareness. The study recruited a convenience sample of 164 Spanish students from a rural area in southern Spain who randomly received these three ESL/EFL methods. The research was focused on two hypotheses. Firstly, L2 reading learning is more effective from CLT and CLIL than GTM. Secondly, CLT and CLIL demand more contextual learning. Results showed CLT method offered more similar results among the reading comprehension tasks (p<.01). However, from a descriptive study, GTM obtained the best performance globally. In all three methods, scores were weakest for pragmatic awareness. However, the interaction between reading comprehension and language awareness suggested that the intervention was more supportive for CLT. Also, significant intra-gender differences according to the learning methodology were found. Study limitations and future research recommendations also were discussed

Combining Constructed Wetlands and UV Photolysis for the Advanced Removal of Organic Matter, Nitrogen, and Emerging Pollutants from Wastewater

This article belongs to the Special Issue Recent Advances in Technologies for Water and Wastewater Treatment[Abstract] This study reports the performance of a three-step lab-scale system including a hybrid digester (HD), a vertical flow (VF) constructed wetland, and a photodegradation (PD) lamp, with two different arrangements regarding the position of the recirculation point. In addition to total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and nitrogen compounds, removal of the following pollutants was investigated: paracetamol (ACE), ofloxacin (OFL), caffeine (CAF), ketoprofen (KET), ibuprofen (IBU), clofibric acid (ACB), bisphenol A (BPA), and sotalol (SOT). An excellent performance of HD was achieved on the elimination of TSS (82.2 ± 18.5% on average) and COD (63.9 ± 4.1%). TSS and COD removal increased to 91.2 ± 0.4% and 83.4 ± 2.9%, respectively, for the combined HD–VF system. Ammonia removal was 57.0 ± 7.8% in the VF unit while significant denitrification occurred in the HD. The overall HD–VF–PD system achieved mean removals of 100% for OFL, KET, SOT, and IBU, 98 ± 2% for ACE, 87 ± 8% for CAF, 81 ± 38% for ACB and 26 ± 9% for BPA. The removal of ACE, OFL, CAF, and IBU was mostly by biodegradation in the HD and VF units while the PD unit was responsible for the removal of KET, ACB, and SOT.This research is part of the project CTQ2015-71238-R (MINECO/FEDER, funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad), the project TED2021-132667B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by the European Union NextGenerationEU/PRTR, and projects GPC ED431B 2020/52 and GPC ED431B 2019/44 (funded by the Xunta de Galicia)Xunta de Galicia; ED431B 2020/52Xunta de Galicia; ED431B 2019/4

Investigating Human Torso Asymmetries: An Observational Longitudinal Study of Fluctuating and Directional Asymmetry in the Scoliotic Torso

The presence of directional and fluctuating asymmetry in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis has not been deeply studied. We aimed to test the presence of both in a scoliosis group and a control group. 24 patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis and 24 control subjects were subjected to geometric morphometrics analyses to address our main hypotheses and to make qualitative visualizations of the 3D shape changes in patients with scoliosis. Our results support the hypothesis that both asymmetric traits are present in the scoliosis and control groups, but to a greater degree in patients. A qualitative visualization tool that allows us to measure the impact that directional and fluctuating asymmetry have on the 3D shape of our patients has been developed. Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is the result of developmental instabilities during growth and the visualization of the 3D shape changes in response to both asymmetric variables has shown different morphological behaviors. Measuring these variables is important, as they can prevent the localization and deformation that is expected to occur during the course of scoliosis in every individual patient and therefore acts as a key clinical finding that may be used in the prognosis of the condition.Funding: This research was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2020-115854GB-I00 and the APC was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, grant number PID2020-115854GB-I00

Vertebroplastia y cifoplastia como tratamiento de las fracturas vertebrales osteoporóticas

A lo largo de la última década, la vertebroplastia y la cifoplastia se han popularizado como opciones terapéuticas para las fracturas vertebrales. De hecho, en numerosos estudios no controlados se ha señalado que ambos procedimientos son muy eficaces para controlar el dolor asociado a las fracturas. Sin embargo, algunos ensayos aleatorizados publicados recientemente arrojan dudas sobre la efectividad real de esos procedimientos. Por otro lado, ciertas observaciones sugieren que el incremento de la rigidez que se produce tras la inyección de metacrilato en un cuerpo vertebral puede facilitar el colapso de las vértebras adyacentes. Por tanto, la vertebroplastia y la cifoplastia no deben considerarse una medida terapéutica rutinaria, sino que han de limitarse a pacientes cuidadosamente seleccionados, en los que los beneficios potenciales superen los riesgos y los costes del procedimiento. En todo caso, los pacientes han de insertarse en un programa global de tratamiento que incluya medidas farmacológicas y no farmacológicas tendentes a reducir el riesgo de futuras fracturas vertebrales y periféricas. Recientemente se han publicado varios ensayos clínicos que suponen una contribución importante al conocimiento de la efectividad de la vertebroplastia. Los resultados han sido un tanto contradictorios entre si y en relación con estudios observacionales anteriores. Por ello, merece la pena revisar esta cuestión con la intención de ayudar a los clínicos que deben tomar las decisiones sobre el tratamiento de los pacientes con fracturas osteoporóticas. No trataremos en este momento la posible utilidad de la vertebroplastia en otros procesos, como las fracturas de causa tumoral o traumátic

Removal of Emerging Pollutants by a 3-Step System: Hybrid Digester, Vertical Flow Constructed Wetland and Photodegradation Post-treatments

Financiado para publicación en acceso aberto: Universidade da Coruña/CISUG[Abstract] The removal of emerging pollutants from municipal wastewater was studied for the first time using a three-step pilot-scale system: 1) hybrid digester (HD) as first step, 2) subsurface vertical flow constructed wetland (VF) as second step, and 3) photodegradation (PD) unit as third step or post-treatment. The HD and VF units were built and operated in series with effluent recirculation at pilot scale. For the PD post-treatment, three alternatives were studied at lab-scale, i) UVC irradiation at 254 nm (0.5 h exposure time), ii) UVA irradiation at 365 nm using a TiO2-based photocatalyst and iii) sunlight irradiation using a TiO2-based photocatalyst, the last two for 1 and 2 h. Alternative iii) was also tested at pilot-scale. Degradation of nine compounds was evaluated: acetaminophen (ACE), caffeine (CAF), carbamazepine (CBZ), ketoprofen (KET), ibuprofen (IBU), diclofenac (DCL), clofibric acid (ACB), bisphenol A (BPA), and sotalol (SOT). Overall, the HD-VF-UVC system completely removed (>99.5 %) ACE, CAF, KET, IBU, DCL and ACB, and to a lesser extent SOT (98 %), BPA (83 %) and CBZ (51 %). On the other hand, the HD-VF-UVA/TiO2 system (at 2 h) achieved >99.5 % removal of ACE, CAF, KET, IBU and DCL while ACB, BPA, CBZ and SOT were degraded by 83 %, 81 %, 78 % and 68 %, respectively. Working also at 2 h of exposure time, in summer conditions, the HD-VF-Sol/TiO2 system achieved >99.5 % removal of ACE, CAF, KET, IBU, DCL and ACB, and to a minor extent BPA (80 %), SOT (74 %) and CBZ (69 %). Similar results, although slightly lower for SOT (60 %) and CBZ (59 %), were obtained in the pilot sunlight plus TiO2 catalyst unit. However, the use of sunlight irradiation with a TiO2-based photocatalyst clearly showed lower removal efficiency in autumn conditions (i.e., 47 % SOT, 31 % CBZ).This research was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad through project CTQ2015-71238-R (MINECO/FEDER), and the Xunta de Galicia (project GPC ED431B 2020/52 and project GPC ED431B 2019/44), respectively. Funding for open access charge: Universidade da Coruña/CISUGXunta de Galicia; GPC ED431B 2020/52Xunta de Galicia; GPC ED431B 2019/4

PlA2 Polymorphism of Platelet Glycoprotein IIb/IIIa and C677T Polymorphism of Methylenetetrahydrofolate Reductase (MTHFR), but Not Factor V Leiden and Prothrombin G20210A Polymorphisms, Are Associated with More Severe Forms of Legg-Calvé-Perthes Disease

The possible association of common polymorphic variants related to thrombophilia (the rs6025(A) allele encoding the Leiden mutation, rs1799963(A), i.e., the G20210A mutation of the prothrombin F2 gene, the rs1801133(T) variant of the methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase (MTHFR) gene that encodes an enzyme involved in folate metabolism, and rs5918(C), i.e., the "A2" allele of the platelet-specific alloantigen system that increases platelet aggregation induced by agonists), with the risk of Legg-Calvé-Perthes disease (LCPD) and the degree of hip involvement (Catterall stages I to IV) was analyzed in a cohort study, including 41 children of ages 2 to 10.9 (mean 5.4, SD 2.2), on the basis of clinical and radiological criteria of LCPD. In 10 of the cases, hip involvement was bilateral; thus, a total of 51 hips were followed-up for a mean of 75.5 months. The distribution of genotypes among patients and 118 controls showed no significant differences, with a slightly increased risk for LCPD in rs6025(A) carriers (OR: 2.9, CI: 0.2-47.8). Regarding the severity of LCPD based on Catterall classification, the rs1801133(T) variant of the MTHFR gene and the rs5918(C) variant of the platelet glycoprotein IIb/IIIa were associated with more severe forms of Perthes disease (Catterall III-IV) (p < 0.05). The four children homozygous for mutated MTHFR had a severe form of the disease (Stage IV of Catterall) and a higher risk of non-favorable outcome (Stulberg IV-V).This research was funded by a grant from the Spanish government, 2002–2005, grant number FIS (00/0015) and University of Cantabria code 06.3842.64001 and The APC was funded by University of Cantabria-IDIVAL

La relación profesor-alumno: la comunicación a través del campus virtual como medio para fomentar la permanencia universitaria

. El estudio del abandono universitario ha pasado a ser un fenómeno de interés creciente dentro del marco de países que conforman la Unión Europea debido a las dificultades personales y sociales que genera y a los altos costes que implica para las instituciones universitarias y los organismos socio-políticos. Es por esto que, desde hace años, se ha buscado disminuir la tasa de abandono dentro del marco de la Unión con medidas acordes al contexto actual. Con la aparición de la sociedad del conocimiento, que define el desarrollo económico de un país a través de su propio capital intelectual y social, y la implantación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), se produce un cambio en las estructuras de gestión y docencia universitaria, pasando el propio alumno a ser el elemento central del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. En este contexto, la necesaria integración de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) puede ser aprovechada para facilitar el proceso de comunicación entre docente y alumno. Así, el objetivo general de esta investigación es analizar la relación que existe entre la intención de abandono del alumnado universitario y la valoración que realizan de la comunicación que los profesores llevan a cabo a través del campus virtual. Para ello, se ha implementado un cuestionario diseñado ad hoc que busca analizar la percepción de los alumnos universitarios sobre el campus virtual a una muestra de 1531 alumnos universitarios, todos ellos estudiantes de títulos de grado y pertenecientes a diferentes instituciones y ramas de conocimiento. El análisis estadístico se realizó utilizando estadísticos descriptivos y la prueba T para muestras independientes a través del paquete SPSS v.24. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que hay diferencias en la valoración de los procesos de comunicación a través del campus entre aquellos alumnos que han pensado en abandonar y los que muestran una intención de permanencia. Por lo tanto, una mejora en la comunicación a través del campus virtual, propiciando una relación fluida y conectada a través de ambas partes,&nbsp;podría servir para facilitar los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, pudiendo a su vez contribuir como medida preventiva a la reducción de la intención de abandono por parte del alumnado de Educación Superior

La relación profesor-alumno: la comunicación a través del campus virtual como medio para fomentar la permanencia universitaria

El estudio del abandono universitario ha pasado a ser un fenómeno de interés creciente dentro del marco de países que conforman la Unión Europea debido a las dificultades personales y sociales que genera y a los altos costes que implica para las instituciones universitarias y los organismos socio-políticos. Es por esto que, desde hace años, se ha buscado disminuir la tasa de abandono dentro del marco de la Unión con medidas acordes al contexto actual. Con la aparición de la sociedad del conocimiento, que define el desarrollo económico de un país a través de su propio capital intelectual y social, y la implantación del Espacio Europeo de Educación Superior (EEES), se produce un cambio en las estructuras de gestión y docencia universitaria, pasando el propio alumno a ser el elemento central del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje. En este contexto, la necesaria integración de las Tecnologías de la Información y la Comunicación (TIC) puede ser aprovechada para facilitar el proceso de comunicación entre docente y alumno. Así, el objetivo general de esta investigación es analizar la relación que existe entre la intención de abandono del alumnado universitario y la valoración que realizan de la comunicación que los profesores llevan a cabo a través del campus virtual. Para ello, se ha implementado un cuestionario diseñado ad hoc que busca analizar la percepción de los alumnos universitarios sobre el campus virtual a una muestra de 1531 alumnos universitarios, todos ellos estudiantes de títulos de grado y pertenecientes a diferentes instituciones y ramas de conocimiento. El análisis estadístico se realizó utilizando estadísticos descriptivos y la prueba T para muestras independientes a través del paquete SPSS v.24. Los resultados obtenidos muestran que hay diferencias en la valoración de los procesos de comunicación a través del campus entre aquellos&nbsp;alumnos que han pensado en abandonar y los que muestran una intención de permanencia. Por lo tanto, una mejora en la comunicación a través del campus virtual, propiciando una relación fluida y conectada a través de ambas partes, podría servir para facilitar los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, pudiendo a su vez contribuir como medida preventiva a la reducción de la intención de abandono por parte del alumnado de Educación Superior

Clinical-functional evaluation and test-retest reliability of the G-WALK sensor in subjects with bimalleolar ankle fractures 6 months after surgery

Ankle fractures can cause significant functional impairment in the short and long term. In recent years, gait analysis using inertial sensors has gained special relevance as a reliable measurement system. This study aimed to evaluate the differences in spatiotemporal gait parameters and clinical- functional measurements in patients with bimalleolar ankle fracture and healthy subjects, to study the correlation between the different variables, and to analyze the test-retest reliability of a single inertial sensor in our study population. Twenty-two subjects with bimalleolar ankle fracture six months after surgery and eleven healthy subjects were included in the study. Spatiotemporal parameters were analyzed with the G-WALK sensor. Functional scales and clinical measures were collected beforehand. In the ankle fracture group, the main differences were obtained in bilateral parameters (effect size: 0.61 d 0.80). Between-group differences were found in cadence, speed, stride length, and stride time (effect size: 1.61 d 1.82). Correlation was moderate (0.436 < r < 0.554) between spatiotemporal parameters and clinical-functional measures, explaining up to 46% of gait performance. Test-retest reliability scores were high to excellent (0.84 ICC 0.98), with the worst results in the gait phases. Our study population presents evident clinicalfunctional impairments 6 months after surgery. The G-WALK can be considered a reliable tool for clinical use in this population

Effective Osteogenic Priming of Mesenchymal Stem Cellsthrough LNA-ASOs-Mediated Sfrp1 Gene Silencing

Mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) transplantation has emerged as a promising approach for bone regeneration. Importantly, the beneficial effects of MSCs can be improved by modulating the expression levels of specific genes to stimulate MSC osteogenic differentiation. We have previously shown that Smurf1 silencing by using Locked Nucleic Acid-Antisense Oligonucleotides, in combination with a scaffold that sustainably releases low doses of BMP-2, was able to increase the osteogenic potential of MSCs in the presence of BMP-2 doses significantly smaller than those currently used in the clinic. This would potentially allow an important reduction in this protein in MSs-based treatments, and thus of the side effects linked to its administration. We have further improved this system by specifically targeting the Wnt pathway modulator Sfrp1. This approach not only increases MSC bone regeneration efficiency, but is also able to induce osteogenic differentiation in osteoporotic human MSCs, bypassing the need for BMP-2 induction, underscoring the regenerative potential of this system. Achieving successful osteogenesis with the sole use of LNA-ASOs, without the need of administering pro-osteogenic factors such as BMP-2, would not only reduce the cost of treatments, but would also open the possibility of targeting these LNA-ASOs specifically to MSCs in the bone marrow, allowing us to treat systemic bone loss such as that associated with osteoporosis. © 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.Funding: This research was funded by a grant from the Spanish Ministerio de Economia y competitividad (Project RTI2018- 097324) and two grants from the Instituto de Investigación Marqués de Valdecilla-IDIVAL (PREVAL19/02 and PREVAL 20/01)