Entre el presentismo y la historicidad de la reivindicación social afrocolombiana. Análisis sobre el uso de la memoria colectiva en la asociación de afrocolombianos desplazados (AFRODES)

Desde un análisis constructivista de la acción colectiva, el presente artículo aborda el uso político de la memoria en la Asociación de Afrocolombianos Desplazados Afrodes, con el objetivo de identificar las continuidades, giros y transformaciones del proceso histórico de movilización de los grupos afrocolombianos, a partir del análisis de los discursos que son construidos y movilizados por parte de los líderes de la organización. Para ello, se utilizan las categorías de memoria colectiva, procesos de encuadre y repertorios de acción colectiva para posicionar este uso de la memoria dentro de los marcos políticos de oportunidad en los cuales la organización inscribe sus peticiones. Como resultado, se muestra la importancia del papel de los actores movilizados, quienes en un espectro más o menos constreñido de acción, redefinen el significado de la etnicidad afrocolombiana

Los archivos históricos cubanos: fuentes para la investigación histórica

En el texto se caracterizan los fondos y colecciones de los archivos históricos de la Red Nacional de Cuba a partir de un análisis informétrico y de la aplicación de la Norma ISDIAH, como herramienta para garantizar su accesibilidad. A través de gráficos y sus interpretaciones el interesado encontrará una nueva vía de orientación para encauzar sus estudios y satisfacer sus necesidades informativas.In this text, the funds and collections of the historical archives of the Cuban national network are characterized from an informetric analysis and the implementation of the ISDIAH Standard, as a tool to ensure its accessibility. Through different graphics and their performances anyone interested will find a new way of guidance to direct his studies and satisfy his information needs.En el texto se caracterizan los fondos y colecciones de los archivos históricos de la Red Nacional de Cuba a partir de un análisis informétrico y de la aplicación de la Norma ISDIAH, como herramienta para garantizar su accesibilidad. A través de gráficos y sus interpretaciones el interesado encontrará una nueva vía de orientación para encauzar sus estudios y satisfacer sus necesidades informativas

Neural signatures of predictive language processing in parkinson’s disease with and without mild cognitive impairment

This study was funded by grants from the Fundació la Marató de TV3 2014/U/477 and 20142910, and by financial support from the Center for Biomedical Research and Neurodegenerative Resources (CIBERNED). PLC was funded with a pre-doctoral grant FPU15/05554 (FPU "Ayudas para la Formación de Profesorado Universitario") of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. JP was funded by PERIS (expedient number: SLT008/18/00088) of Generalitat de Catalunya. JK and HB-K were funded by FIS PI18/01717. HB -K was funded by Río Hortega CM17/00209 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain). JM was funded by Río Hortega CM15/00071 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain). None of these funding sources had any involvement in the conduct of the research or the preparation of the article.Cognitive deficits are common in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with some PD patients meeting criteria for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). An unaddressed question is whether linguistic prediction is preserved in PD. This ability is nowadays deemed crucial in achieving fast and efficient comprehension, and it may be negatively impacted by cognitive deterioration. To fill this gap of knowledge, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to evaluate mechanisms of linguistic prediction in a sample of PD patients (on dopamine compensation) with and without MCI. To this end, participants read sentence contexts that were predictive or not about a sentence-final word. The final word appeared after 1 second, matching or mismatching the prediction. The introduction of the interval allowed to capture neural responses both before and after sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation and processing. PD patients with normal cognition (N = 58) showed ERP responses comparable to those of matched controls. Specifically, in predictive contexts, a slow negative potential developed prior to sentence-final words, reflecting semantic anticipation. Later, expected words elicited reduced N400 responses (compared to unexpected words), indicating facilitated semantic processing. Besides, PD patients with MCI (N = 20) showed a prolongation of the N400 congruency effect (compared to matched PD patients without MCI), indicating that further cognitive decline impacts semantic processing. Finally, lower verbal fluency scores correlated with prolonged N400 congruency effects and with reduced pre-word differences in all PD patients (N = 78). This relevantly points to a role of deficits in temporal-dependent mechanisms in PD, besides prototypical frontal dysfunction, in altered semantic anticipation and semantic processing during sentence comprehension.Fundació la Marató de TV3 2014/U/477 and 20142910Center for Biomedical Research and Neurodegenerative Resources (CIBERNED)FPU15/05554 (FPU "Ayudas para la Formación de Profesorado Universitario") of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and SportPERIS (expedient number: SLT008/18/00088) of Generalitat de CatalunyaRío Hortega CM17/00209 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain)FIS PI18/01717. HB -KRío Hortega CM15/00071 of Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) (Spain

Alpha power decreases associated with prediction in written and spoken sentence comprehension

Alpha and beta power decreases have been associated with prediction in a variety of cognitive domains. Recent studies in sentence comprehension have also reported alpha and/or beta power decreases preceding contextually predictable words, albeit with remarkable spatiotemporal variability across reports. To contribute to the understanding of the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon, and the sources of variability, the present study explored to what extent these prediction-related alpha and beta power decreases might be common across different modalities of comprehension. To address this, we re-analysed the data of two EEG experiments that employed the same materials in written and in spoken comprehension. Sentence contexts were weakly or strongly constraining about a sentence-final word, which was presented after a 1 s delay, either matching or mismatching the expectation. In written comprehension, alpha power (8–12 Hz) decreased before final words appearing in strongly (relative to weakly) constraining contexts, in line with previous reports. Furthermore, a similar oscillatory phenomenon was evidenced in spoken comprehension, although with relevant spatiotemporal differences. Altogether, the findings agree with the involvement of both modality-specific and general-domain mechanisms in the elicitation of prediction-related alpha power decreases in sentence comprehension. Specifically, we propose that this phenomenon might partly reflect richer and more precise information representation when linguistic contexts afford prediction.pre-doctoral grant (FPU "Ayudas para la Formacion de Profesorado Universitario") of the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport FPU15/0555

Wide therapeutic time window for nimesulide neuroprotection in a model of transient focal cerebral ischemia in the rat

Results from several studies indicate that cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) is involved ischemic brain injury. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the neuroprotective effects of the selective COX-2 inhibitor nimesulide on cerebral infarction and neurological deficits in a standardized model of transient focal cerebral ischemia in rats. Three doses of nimesulide (3, 6 and 12 mg/kg; i.p.) or vehicle were administered immediately after stroke and additional doses were given at 6, 12, 24, 36 and 48 h after ischemia. In other set of experiments, the effect of nimesulide was studied in a situation in which its first administration was delayed for 3 to 24 h after ischemia. Total, cortical and subcortical infarct volumes and functional outcome (assessed by neurological deficit score and rotarod performance) were determined 3 days after ischemia. The effect of nimesulide on prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) levels in the injured brain was also investigated. Nimesulide dose-dependently reduced infarct volume and improved functional recovery when compared to vehicle. Of interest is the finding that neuroprotection conferred by nimesulide (reduction of infarct size and neurological deficits and improvement of rotarod performance) was also observed when treatment was delayed until 24 h after ischemia. Further, administration of nimesulide in a delayed treatment paradigm completely abolished PGE2 accumulation in the postischemic brain, suggesting that COX-2 inhibition is a promising therapeutic strategy for cerebral ischemia to target the late-occurring inflammatory events which amplify initial damage

Teaching Strategies to Apply Music in English as a Tool to Enhance Listening and Speaking Skills in Latin American EFL Classrooms

Esta síntesis de investigación tiene como objetivo reportar las estrategias de enseñanza más efectivas utilizadas para aplicar la música en inglés como herramienta para mejorar las habilidades de habla y escucha de los estudiantes en las aulas del inglés como lengua extranjera de América Latina. Para responder a las preguntas de investigación establecidas sobre el tema, se recopilaron y analizaron 20 estudios empíricos. Todos los estudios seleccionados se llevaron a cabo en un contexto de aprendizaje del idioma como lengua extranjera en aulas latinoamericanas que involucraban todos los niveles educativos y que sean publicados en los últimos 15 años. Después del análisis de datos, se obtuvieron resultados que indican que seis estrategias, las cuales son: folletos; actividades relacionadas con la expresión oral; tareas de canciones; repetición, imitación y memorización de canciones; movimiento corporal; y tener dos profesores en el aula; obtuvieron resultados positivos como el aumento de la motivación y la mejora en la pronunciación; por lo tanto, son las estrategias más efectivas a reportar. Dos estrategias, las canciones como calentamiento de clase y las tareas de canciones, obtuvieron efectos negativos como distracción y pérdida de interés. Finalmente, algunas de las razones de las diferentes desventajas son la falta de actividades de seguimiento y estrategias metodológicas, y el pobre repertorio de canciones. Basándose en los resultados encontrados, las recomendaciones para los maestros e instituciones son implementar estrategias que resultaron en la mejora de ambas habilidades y considerar las razones de desventajas. Las recomendaciones para futuras investigaciones son realizar estudios sobre el tema en países latinoamericanos y crear una guía para maestros sobre cómo implementar efectivamente la música en inglés como herramienta de enseñanza.This research synthesis aims to report the most effective teaching strategies used to apply music in English as a tool to enhance students' speaking and listening skills in Latin American EFL classrooms. To answer the research questions established on the topic, 20 empirical studies were collected and analyzed. All the selected studies were conducted in an EFL context of language learning in Latin American classrooms involving all educational levels and published within the last 15 years. After the data analysis, the results obtained are that six strategies, which are booklets; oral-related activities; song tasks; song repetition, imitation, and memorization; body movement; and having two teachers in the classroom; gathered positive results as the increase in motivation and the improvement in pronunciation; therefore, they are the ones reported as the most effective strategies. Two strategies, songs as warm-up activities and song tasks, reported negative effects as distraction and loss of interest. Finally, some of the reasons for the different drawbacks are the lack of follow-up activities and methodological strategies, and poor songs repertoire. Based on the found results, the recommendations to teachers and institutions are to implement strategies that resulted in students' improvement in both skills and to consider the reason for obtaining drawbacks. Additionally, the recommendations for future research are to conduct studies on the topic in Latin American countries and to create a teachers’ guide on the topic of how to effectively implement music in English as a teaching tool.0000-0002-9330-462

Experiencias de veinte años propagando bambúes en el Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos, Cuba

The Bamboo plants have fascinated growers and have motivated several specialists in their study due to their beauty and many applications. They are mostly originated in tropical and subtropical regions of the planet. In Cuba, the level of endemism is low and there are primarily herbaceous size species. For this reason, tree-sized woody species present in Cuba were introduced mainly by the Harvard Botanical Garden, Cienfuegos Botanical Garden today. The main objective is to study the economic potential and adaptation under the climatic conditions of Cuba, overlooking the extensive use of these resources. In previous years the use of these species has only been for emerging and craft work and its extension in reforestation plans has been limited. In 1989 began the first steps to encourage the cultivation and application of this wonder plant in our country. In this paper we show the results achieved in the propagation of bamboo in twenty years of work under different conditions. This helps to diversify the results in several provinces of the country with prospects for a local bamboo economy. Besides, it encourages job opportunities, satisfaction of many basic needs and import substitutions.Keyword: Poaceas, reforest, woody plantsLos Bambúes son plantas que por su belleza y sus múltiples aplicaciones han fascinado a los cultivadores, así como han motivado a diversos especialistas en su estudio. Son originarias en su mayoría de las regiones tropicales y subtropicales del planeta. En Cuba el nivel de endemismo es bajo y se corresponden fundamentalmente con especies de porte herbáceo. Por esta razón, las especies leñosas de porte arbóreo presentes en Cuba fueron introducidas en su mayoría por el Harvad Botanical Garden, hoy Jardín Botánico de Cienfuegos. Su objetivo principal es el estudio de las potencialidades económicas y de su comportamiento bajo las condiciones climáticas de Cuba, con vistas a un uso extensivo de estos recursos. En años anteriores el uso de estas especies solo ha sido en labores emergentes y en artesanías y su extensión en los planes de reforestación ha sido limitada, y es en 1989 que se comienzan a dar los primeros pasos para incentivar el cultivo y aplicación de esta maravilla del mundo vegetal en nuestro país. En el presente trabajo se muestran los resultados alcanzados en la propagación del bambú en veinte años de trabajo bajo diferentes condiciones lo que permite en estos momentos diversificar estos resultados en varias provincias del país con perspectivas de lograr una economía del bambú a nivel local y propiciar la creación de puestos de trabajo, la satisfacción de muchas necesidades básicas y la sustitución de importaciones.Palabras clave: especies leñosas, Poaceas, reforestació

Neural Evidence of Hierarchical Cognitive Control during Haptic Processing: An fMRI Study

Interacting with our immediate surroundings requires constant manipulation of objects. Dexterous manipulation depends on comparison between actual and predicted sensory input, with these predictions calculated by means of lower- and higher-order corollary discharge signals. However, there is still scarce knowledge about the hierarchy in the neural architecture supporting haptic monitoring during manipulation. The present study aimed to assess this issue focusing on the cross talk between lower- order sensory and higher-order associative regions. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging in humans during a haptic discrimination task in which participants had to judge whether a touched shape or texture corresponded to an expected stimulus whose name was previously presented. Specialized haptic regions identified with an independent localizer task did not differ between expected and unexpected conditions, suggesting their lack of involvement in tactile monitoring. When presented stimuli did not match previous expectations, the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG), middle temporal, and medial prefrontal cortices were activated regardless of the nature of the haptic mismatch (shape/texture). The left primary somatosensory area (SI) responded differently to unexpected shapes and textures in line with a specialized detection of haptic mismatch. Importantly, connectivity analyses revealed that the left SMG and SI were more functionally coupled during unexpected trials, emphasizing their interaction. The results point for the first time to a hierarchical organization in the neural substrates underlying haptic monitoring during manipulation with the SMG as a higher-order hub comparing actual and predicted somatosensory input, and SI as a lower- order site involved in the detection of more specialized haptic mismatch