Analysis of mobile devices as a support tool for professional medical education in the university school

[EN] According to the report of International Telecommunications Union (ITU), there are approximately 6.800 millions of users in the world with a mobile device. The fast evolution of these mobile devices for the last two decades has made the mobile phone become a minicomputer with a data connection. Because of the use of these mobile phones, the mobile applications appeared just one year later that the launching of the first iPhone and now the number of these applications reach more than 1 million in play store or app store (two application market for two different operation systems). All these data illustrates the considerable importance of the mobile devices in our society and the tremendous opportunity for the medical education. The physicians and the medical students are using more and more these mobile devices daily in their work or even in their self-learning. Currently, some university schools of medicine in EEUU have already introduced the tablets as a new tool for education. The aim of this study is to make an analysis of the current usage of mobile devices and mobile applications in the University medical school and the main advantages and disadvantages of introducing this tool as part of the education curriculum

Cohort-specific winter growth rates of YOY bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix, in northeast Florida estuaries: implications for recruitment

Abstract Age and growth were determined from otoliths for 181 juvenile bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix), collected using a variety of gear in northeast Florida during 2003 and 2005. Three distinct cohorts were identified recruiting to the near shore waters during spring, summer and autumn. Growth rates were high regardless of cohort or season. To compare pre-and post-recruitment growth rates, models were fit to individual growth trajectories using change point analysis. Post-estuarine growth rates were generally higher. Growth rates and hatching times were within the range of those obtained in other bluefish studies conducted at higher latitudes. As this is the only area where winter recruitment of bluefish has been observed, coastal Florida habitats may be essential for the bluefish stock and will need to be carefully monitored in future studies

Técnicas de creación y manipulación de imágenes de estructuras orgánicas tridimensionales. Nuevos entornos de aplicación didáctica

The development of computer-generated images opens new perspectives in the field of teaching. These techniques permit geometric modelling of three-dimensional structures, allowing the production and manipulation of real images and the numerical and graphic characterization of two-three-dimensional contours. The procedure proposed is based on the manipulation, by geometric (turns, traslations) and algebraic (addition, intersection) operations, of an initially finite set of surfaces (elipsoids, paraboloids, cylinders and planes), defined by their parameters, for teaching purposes

Description of a session to assess the efectiveness of apps in medical education

[EN]Nowadays, there are few researches about the effectiveness of apps in education. With this paper, we want to describe the methodology and the initial results obtained with the first session performed with undergraduate students of Medical Schools in University of Salamanca. The session lasted roughly two hours and was formed by ten students. We used a descriptive correlational method and the instruments utilized to obtain the qualitative data were a questionnaire and the images recorded and observed during the session. Besides it was necessary to divide the participants in two groups in order to contrast the results between them: control group and experimental group. One of them had to attend a normal class and the other one was going to use an app, which describes the anatomical parts of a brain. The results were measured with a knowledge test performed before and after the session. Both groups obtained better results after the experiment, however with the participants of the experimental group, the results were higher than the students of the control group. It is very complex to measure the effectiveness of mobile apps in education, and although the study suggests that the mobile apps could be a tool to use in higher education, it is necessary to repeat the sessions with different students in order to have more samples, which allow showing and verifying the effectiveness of apps in education

A systematic review of using mobile devices in medical education

[EN] Abstract—There are many research studies carried out about the use of mobile devices in our society. Mobile devices offer great opportunities in different aspects of our daily routine as it enable people to be connected at any time. The increasing number of mobile devices and their use confirm that the new technologies are part of our lives. Not only that, medical professionals are starting to be involved actively in the use of mobile devices. This paper describes how students and medical professionals use mobile devices from an educational perspective and it investigates the roles of their involvement. To achieve this goal, we performed a crosssectional survey involving undergraduate medical students of University of Salamanca and medical professionals. The results confirm that the new technologies are becoming part of our lives and medical professionals are starting to be part of this upward trend

Review of the cutting-edge technology employed in medical education

[EN]The new technologies have advanced astonishingly in the last few decades. There are more and more Medical Schools adopting new tools to teach Medicine to undergraduate students or even to teach the continuous training for professionals. Not all the Universities adopt these technologies at same level or same grade of the speed but as a result it seems that they will adopt more and more often the new technologies as part of the curriculum. This paper wants to be a review of the state of the art technologies that have stepped in the Medical Schools in the last decade. Overall, we want to describe the function of these new tools, how all of them have been adopting to teach Medicine answering most part of the demands of physicians and how they could be evolved in the future to continue making the medical education a new revolutionary industry in continual progress. Not only that, it makes the engineering biomedical a field very interesting to explore and to be invested on, as they could enhance the skills of new professionals of Medicine to be prepared for the digital environment where they will work on. It is important to notice that the advanced technologies are enhanced at more speed than the education is able to adopt in. Sometimes, the reason could be the unawareness of these technologies. Occasionally, it could be the money needed to invest and from time to time it could be that the leaderships of Medical Schools are not convinced enough that the new technologies will work

EB1 directly regulates APC-mediated actin nucleation

EB1 was discovered 25 years ago as a binding partner of the tumor suppressor Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) [1]; however, the significance of EB1-APC interactions has remained poorly understood. EB1 functions at the center of a network of microtubule end-tracking proteins (+TIPs) [2–5], and APC binding to EB1 promotes EB1 association with microtubule ends and microtubule stabilization [6, 7]. Whether or not EB1 interactions govern functions of APC beyond microtubule regulation has not been explored. The C-terminal Basic domain of APC (APC-B) directly nucleates actin assembly, and this activity is required in vivo for directed cell migration and for maintaining normal levels of F-actin [8–10]. Here, we show that EB1 binds APC-B and inhibits its actin nucleation function by blocking actin monomer recruitment. Consistent with these biochemical observations, knocking down EB1 increases F-actin levels in cells, and this can be rescued by disrupting APC-mediated actin nucleation. Conversely, overexpressing EB1 decreases F-actin levels and impairs directed cell migration, without altering microtubule organization and independent of its direct binding interactions with microtubules. Overall, our results define a new function for EB1 in negatively regulating APC-mediated actin assembly. Combining these findings with other recent studies showing that APC interactions regulate EB1-dependent effects on microtubule dynamics [7], we propose that EB1-APC interactions govern bidirectional cytoskeletal crosstalk by coordinating microtubule and actin dynamics