El rol de la clase social, la educación y el desempleo parentales en el desarrollo cognitivo infantil

Objective: Assessing the association between socioeconomic gradient and cognitive development among children of a Spanish birth cohort aged 5-6 years from a gender perspective. Method: Cognitive development was assessed on 525 children aged 5-6 years in the INMA-Valencia cohort, with the Global Cognitive Score (GCS) from McCarthy Scales of Children’s Abilities. Information on social class, education level and employment was collected for both parents in addition to other sociodemographic factors, parental, family and child characteristics. The relationship between maternal and paternal socioeconomic gradient and cognitive development was assessed by linear regressions and comparing the variance explained by each indicator measured in the mother and father. Results: Maternal socioeconomic gradient indicators explained more variance on GCS than paternal. Maternal education and paternal social class had an important individual effect that stayed after adjusting by other parental, child and family determinants. In the multivariable analysis, maternal education, age and intelligence, paternal social class and the child’s age and sex were significantly associated with cognitive development. Conclusions: Diverse socioeconomic gradient factors have an important influence on cognitive development, maternal education being the strongest determinant. Policies should be implemented to mitigate the negative effects of this gradient on child development.Objetivo: Evaluar la asociación del gradiente socioeconómico y el desarrollo cognitivo en ni˜nos y ni˜nas de una cohorte espa˜nola a los 5-6 a˜nos de edad desde una perspectiva de género. Método: Se evaluó el desarrollo cognitivo en 525 ni˜nos/as de 5-6 a˜nos de la cohorte INMA-Valencia, mediante la Puntuación Global Cognitiva (PGC) de las Escalas McCarthy para ni˜nos y ni˜nas. Se recogió información de ambos progenitores sobre clase social, nivel de estudios y empleo, además de otros factores sociodemográficos, características parentales, de la familia y del ni˜no o la ni˜na. La relación entre el gradiente socioeconómico materno y paterno y el desarrollo cognitivo se evaluó mediante modelos de regresión lineal y comparando la varianza explicada por cada uno de los indicadores medidos en la madre y en el padre. Resultados: Los indicadores de gradiente socioeconómico de la madre explicaron más varianza del índice de PGC que los del padre. La educación materna y la clase social paterna tuvieron un importante efecto individual, que se mantuvo tras ajustar por otros determinantes de los progenitores, del ni˜no o de la ni˜na, y del entorno familiar. En el análisis multivariante, la educación, la edad y la inteligencia maternas, la clase social paterna, y la edad y el sexo del infante se asociaron significativamente con el desarrollo cognitivo. Conclusiones: Distintos factores del gradiente socioeconómico tienen influencia en el desarrollo cognitivo, siendo la educación materna el determinante más fuerte. Deberían implementarse políticas para paliar los efectos negativos de este gradiente en el desarrollo infantil

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MENTORSHIP AND CHILD WELFARE WORKERS’ JOB SATISFACTION, AND INTENTION TO REMAIN EMPLOYED IN CHILD WELFARE

This study explored the relationship between mentoring and social workers’ job satisfaction and social workers’ intention to remain employed in child welfare. This study was conducted in Children Family Services (CFS), San Bernardino. Ninety six child welfare workers completed the survey using the JSS‑CW and the IRE‑CW instruments. A quantitative research design was utilized to analyze the data. Specifically, an Independent Sample T‑Test was used to analyze differences between the social workers who had a mentor and those who did not. Additionally, a Pearson R Correlation Test was conducted to analyze the relationship between mentoring and the different factors influencing the dependent variables. The present study revealed no correlation between informal mentoring and social workers’ levels of job satisfaction and their intentions to remain employed in child welfare in San Bernardino County. The study also revealed that although child welfare workers are highly satisfied at their jobs they still intend to leave child welfare if they are presented with a better job opportunity. These findings cannot be generalized because this study was designed specifically for San Bernardino County and the validity and reliability of the JSS‑CW is unknown. Further research on mentorship, more specifically formalized mentoring programs, is recommended

Crystal structure of the catalytic fragment of murine poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-2.

Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) has become an important pharmacological target in the treatment of cancer due to its cellular role as a 'DNA-strand break sensor', which leads in part to resistance to some existing chemo- and radiological treatments. Inhibitors have now been developed which prevent PARP-1 from synthesizing poly(ADP-ribose) in response to DNA-breaks and potentiate the cytotoxicity of DNA damaging agents. However, with the recent discoveries of PARP-2, which has a similar DNA-damage dependent catalytic activity, and additional members containing the 'PARP catalytic' signature, the isoform selectivity and resultant pharmacological effects of existing inhibitors are brought into question. We present here the crystal structure of the catalytic fragment of murine PARP-2, at 2.8 A resolution, and compare this to the catalytic fragment of PARP-1, with an emphasis on providing a possible framework for rational drug design in order to develop future isoform-specific inhibitors

Sinc method in spectrum completion and inverse Sturm-Liouville problems

Cardinal series representations for solutions of the Sturm-Liouville equation $-y''+q(x)y=\rho^{2}y$, $x\in(0,L)$ with a complex valued potential $q(x)$ are obtained, by using the corresponding transmutation operator. Consequently, partial sums of the series approximate the solutions uniformly with respect to $\rho$ in any strip $\left|\text{Im}\rho\right|<C$ of the complex plane. This property of the obtained series representations leads to their applications in a variety of spectral problems. In particular, we show their applicability to the spectrum completion problem, consisting in computing large sets of the eigenvalues from a reduced finite set of known eigenvalues, without any information on the potential $q(x)$ as well as on the constants from boundary conditions. Among other applications this leads to an efficient numerical method for computing a Weyl function from two finite sets of the eigenvalues. This possibility is explored in the present work and illustrated by numerical tests. Finally, based on the cardinal series representations obtained, we develop a method for the numerical solution of the inverse two-spectra Sturm-Liouville problem and show its numerical efficiency

The K186E amino acid substitution in the canine influenza virus H3N8 NS1 protein restores its ability to inhibit host gene expression

Canine influenza viruses (CIVs) are the causative agents of canine influenza, a contagious respiratory disease in dogs, and include the equine-origin H3N8 and the avian-origin H3N2. Influenza A virus (IAV) non-structural protein 1 (NS1) is a virulence factor essential for counteracting the innate immune response. Here, we evaluated the ability of H3N8 CIV NS1 to inhibit host innate immune responses. We found that H3N8 CIV NS1 was able to efficiently counteract interferon (IFN) responses but was unable to block general gene expression in human or canine cells. Such ability was restored by a single amino acid substitution in position 186 (K186E) that resulted in NS1 binding to the 30-kDa subunit of the cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF30), a cellular protein involved in pre-mRNA processing. We also examined the frequency distribution of K186 and E186 among H3N8 CIVs and equine influenza viruses (EIVs), the ancestors of H3N8 CIV, and experimentally determined the impact of amino acid 186 in the ability of different CIV and EIV NS1s to inhibit general gene expression. In all cases, the presence of E186 was responsible for the control of host gene expression. Contrastingly, the NS1 protein of H3N2 CIV harbors E186 and blocks general gene expression in canine cells. Altogether, our results confirm previous studies on the strain-dependent ability of NS1 to block general gene expression. Moreover, the observed polymorphism on amino acid 186 between H3N8 and H3N2 CIVs might be the result of adaptive changes acquired during long-term circulation of avian-origin IAVs in mammals. IMPORTANCE: Canine influenza is a respiratory disease of dogs caused by two CIV subtypes, the H3N8 and H3N2 viruses of equine and avian origin, respectively. Influenza NS1 is the main viral factor responsible for the control of host innate immune responses and changes in NS1 can play an important role in host adaptation. Here we assessed the ability of H3N8 CIV NS1 to inhibit host innate immune responses and gene expression. The H3N8 CIV NS1 did not block host gene expression but this activity was restored by a single amino acid substitution (K186E), which was responsible for NS1 binding to the host factor CPSF30. In contrast, the H3N2 CIV NS1, that contains E186, blocks general gene expression. Our results suggest that the ability to block host gene expression is not required for influenza replication in mammals but might be important in the long-term adaptation of avian-origin influenza viruses to mammals

A Neural Approach to Ordinal Regression for the Preventive Assessment of Developmental Dyslexia

Developmental Dyslexia (DD) is a learning disability related to the acquisition of reading skills that affects about 5% of the population. DD can have an enormous impact on the intellectual and personal development of affected children, so early detection is key to implementing preventive strategies for teaching language. Research has shown that there may be biological underpinnings to DD that affect phoneme processing, and hence these symptoms may be identifiable before reading ability is acquired, allowing for early intervention. In this paper we propose a new methodology to assess the risk of DD before students learn to read. For this purpose, we propose a mixed neural model that calculates risk levels of dyslexia from tests that can be completed at the age of 5 years. Our method first trains an auto-encoder, and then combines the trained encoder with an optimized ordinal regression neural network devised to ensure consistency of predictions. Our experiments show that the system is able to detect unaffected subjects two years before it can assess the risk of DD based mainly on phonological processing, giving a specificity of 0.969 and a correct rate of more than 0.92. In addition, the trained encoder can be used to transform test results into an interpretable subject spatial distribution that facilitates risk assessment and validates methodology.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Determinación de las condiciones de germinación y el efecto de pretratamientos en semillas de Cuphea glutinosa (Lythraceae)

: Determination of germination conditions and the effect of pretreatments in Cuphea glutinosa seeds (Lythraceae). Cuphea glutinosa shows a high agronomic and agroindustrial potential. Germination conditions for this species are unknown. The objective of the work is to determine germination conditions, their impairments and the treatments to overcome them. There were utilized healthy seeds, complete and quite filled, gathered from a population of Sierra de los Padres, Buenos Aires province, Argentina. There were applied the following treatments, in six repetitions of 50 seeds, in a completely randomized design: blank, scarified, gibberellic acid, darkness, potassium nitrate, stratification and temperature alternation. The germination conditions after the pre-treatments were 24 °C (+/-1) under light, 100 µE.m-2.sec-1. The counts of emerged rootlets were performed at 6 and 12 days, except for the treatment with darkness, in which they were performed at 12 and 18 days. The effect of the treatments was evaluated by ANOVA and Tuckey tests (p = 0,05). The population showed 50 % of germination; positive response to light, to stratification, and to potassium nitrate. There was no effect with scarification neither with temperature alternation. The gibberellic acid showed a negative effect in the percentage of germination, and affected the carbon partition during the growing of seedlingsCuphea glutinosa presenta alto potencial agroindustrial y agronómico. Se desconocen las condiciones de germinación para la especie. El objetivo del trabajo es contribuir a determinar condiciones de germinación, impedimentos para la misma y tratamientos para superarlos. Se utilizaron semillas sanas, enteras y llenas, recolectadas de una población de Sierra de los Padres, provincia de Buenos Aires, Argentina. Se aplicaron los siguientes tratamientos en 6 repeticiones de 50 semillas, bajo un diseño completamente aleatorizado: testigo, escarificado, ácido giberélico, oscuridad, nitrato de potasio, estratificación y alternancia de temperaturas. Las condiciones de germinación después de los pre tratamientos fueron a 24 °C (+/-1) con luz, 100 µE.m-2.seg-1.Los recuentos de radículas emergidas fueron a los 6 y a los 12 días, excepto en el tratamiento oscuridad en el que fueron a los 12 y a los 18 días. El efecto de los tratamientos se evaluó mediante ANOVA y Tuckey (p = 0,05). La población mostró 50% de germinación; respuesta positiva a la luz, a la estratificación y al nitrato de potasio. No tuvieron efecto el escarificado ni las temperaturas alternas. El ácido giberélico tuvo un efecto negativo en el porcentaje de germinación y afectó la partición de carbono durante el crecimiento de las plántulas

La fractura de tobillo en el adulto: resultados clínico-radiológicos

En el presente trabajo se presenta una revisión retrospectiva de 207 fracturas de tobillo en el adulto tratadas quirúrgicamente en el hospital de Cabueñes de Gijón, entre los años 1986 y 1993. Fueron clasificadas siguiendo los criterios AO, con un seguimiento medio de 10 meses. La valoración de los resultados se realizó utilizando criterios clínico-funcionales y radiológicos, registrándose un 79% de excelentes y buenos resultados clínicos, y un 7% de reducciones no satisfactorias, presentando estas reducciones no satisfactorias una significación estadística (p< 0,01) en las fracturas Tipo C respecto a los otros dos tipos (A y B), y encontrándose variaciones estadísticas respecto al momento en que se realiza la cirugía, con una mayor proporción de resultados excelentes en aquellas fracturas tratadas de precozmente frente a las que lo fueron de forma diferida (p< 0,001).The present work shows a retrospective review of 207 adult ankle fractures operated on the Cabueñes's Hospital of Gijon from 1986 to 1993 with an average of follow-up of 19 months. They were classified according to AO criteria. The assessment of results was based on clinical functional and radiological criteria, recording 79% of excelent and good clinical results, and 7% of no satisfactory reductions. Cases with no satisfactory reductions showed statistical significance (p< 0.01) in the type C respect to the other two types (A y B). Then were also statistical differences with respect to the delay of surgery, with a higher rate of excelent results in the fractures treated early than the fractures treated with delay (p< 0.001