The Learning of the subject Biology in a Master in Biomedical Physics

BIOLOGY is a dynamic and fascinating science. The study of this subject is an amazing trip for all the students that have a first contact with this subject. Here, we present the development of the study and learning experience of this subject belonging to an area of knowledge that is different to the training curriculum of students who have studied Physics during their degree period. We have taken a real example, the “Elements of Biology” subject, which is taught as part of the Official Biomedical Physics Master, at the Physics Faculty, of the Complutense University of Madrid, since the course 2006/07. Its main objective is to give to the student an understanding how the Physics can have numerous applications in the Biomedical Sciences area, giving the basic training to develop a professional, academic or research career. The results obtained when we use new virtual tools combined with the classical learning show that there is a clear increase in the number of persons that take and pass the final exam. On the other hand, this new learning strategy is well received by the students and this is translated to a higher participation and a decrease of the giving the subject u

Risk and protective factors for release in outpatients with schizophrenia

eposterWe aim to determine risk and protective factors influencing relapse incidence in outpatient with schizophrenia. A longitudinal, observational study was done with outpatients with schizophrenia (F20) or schizoaffective disorder (F25)(DMS-IV and ICD-10), without hospitalization during the previous 6 months. The patients were consecutively included into the study to received oral (O-A) or long-acting injectable (depot-A) antipsychotics. Clinical stage evolution, compliance, efficacy and safety assessments (including PANSS, CGI-SSI, hospitalization rates, and adverse events) were recorded before and after 6 and 12 months of treatment. Results: 60 outpatients (aged 34.5±8.9, male 73%), 75% schizophrenia and 25% schizoaffective disorder diagnosis, 68.3% fewer than 15 years of schizophrenia evolution, 76.7% fewer than 5 times previous hospitalizations were treated with O-A (41.7%) or depot-A (58.3%) antipsychotics for at least one year. Depot-A treated patients showed a significant higher compliance compared to O-A patients during the all following time, lower PANSS (total, positive and negative) scores and CGI-SSI score (p<0.01), and a delayed relapse incidence and re-hospitalization to more than 1 year in the 48% of patients (relapse % depot/% oral) after 6 months 22.9%/52.0%, and after 12 months 48.6%/4.0%. Conclusion: There were protective factors which delayed relapse incidence in schizophrenia: Use of sustained-release preparations, family support. There were risk factors for occurrence of relapse in schizophrenia: cocaine, heroin and alcohol consumption, absence of family support, greater severity of patients assessed through CGI-SI, male sex, age older than 25 years and long-term evolution of the disorder.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tech

Focal adhesions are foci for tyrosine-based signal transduction via GIV/Girdin and G proteins.

GIV/Girdin is a multimodular signal transducer and a bona fide metastasis-related protein. As a guanidine exchange factor (GEF), GIV modulates signals initiated by growth factors (chemical signals) by activating the G protein Gαi. Here we report that mechanical signals triggered by the extracellular matrix (ECM) also converge on GIV-GEF via β1 integrins and that focal adhesions (FAs) serve as the major hubs for mechanochemical signaling via GIV. GIV interacts with focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and ligand-activated β1 integrins. Phosphorylation of GIV by FAK enhances PI3K-Akt signaling, the integrity of FAs, increases cell-ECM adhesion, and triggers ECM-induced cell motility. Activation of Gαi by GIV-GEF further potentiates FAK-GIV-PI3K-Akt signaling at the FAs. Spatially restricted signaling via tyrosine phosphorylated GIV at the FAs is enhanced during cancer metastasis. Thus GIV-GEF serves as a unifying platform for integration and amplification of adhesion (mechanical) and growth factor (chemical) signals during cancer progression

Peter Zumthor a través de sus influencias en su obra Atmósferas

[ES] El presente trabajo recopila y analiza las distintas referencias que Peter Zumthor cita a lo largo de su obra "Atmósferas", uno de sus textos más conocidos. Mediante el estudio de dichas referencias se pretenden descubrir los parámetros esenciales más influyentes en su Arquitectura.[EN] The current project compiles and analyses the different references that Peter Zumthor mentions throughout his work "Atmósferas", one of his well-known texts. By means of these references the most outstanding parameters of his Architecture are exposed.Jimenez Lopez, I. (2019). Peter Zumthor a través de sus influencias en su obra Atmósferas. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/135466TFG

Sargadelos: patrimonio cultural, memorístico y turístico

[EN] This article studies Sargadelos ceramics from an identity perspective. It begins by analyzing what were its origins and the evolution that this production has had until today. The exceptional character that this Galician earthenware undertaken in the nineteenth century and that was an exponent of modernity stands out. Díaz Pardo finds in this material a support where to give visibility and rescue a cultural period that had been forgotten. A recovery process that concluded, thanks to the support of exiled intellectuals in Argentina, with the creation of the Forms Laboratory and the manufacture of a ceramic that becomes the symbol of Galicia. Currently, Sargadelos pottery is a tourist attraction and has managed to echo nationally and internationally.[ES] En este artículo se aborda la cerámica de Sargadelos desde la perspectiva de la identidad. Para ello se comienza analizando cuáles fueron sus orígenes y la evolución que esta producción ha tenido hasta la actualidad. Se destaca el carácter excepcional que ha conseguido esta loza gallega emprendida en el siglo XIX y que fue un exponente de modernidad. Díaz Pardo encuentra en este material un soporte donde dar visibilidad y rescatar un periodo cultural que había caído en el olvido. Un proceso de recuperación que concluyó, gracias al apoyo de los intelectuales exiliados en Argentina, con la creación del Laboratorio de Formas y la fabricación de una cerámica que se convierte en el símbolo de Galicia. Actualmente, la cerámica de Sargadelos es un reclamo turístico y ha conseguido tener eco a nivel nacional e internacional.Real Lopez, I. (2021). Sargadelos: patrimonio cultural, memorístico y turístico. En I Simposio anual de Patrimonio Natural y Cultural ICOMOS España. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 35-42. https://doi.org/10.4995/icomos2019.2019.11405OCS354

Iterative Design of a Gamified Course in High Education: deployment and evaluation

[EN] During the last years, gamification has been used to engage students in more attractive educational activities in different Computer Science subjects at the university level, thereby improving their motivation and learning outcomes. This work continues a research that initially proposed a gamified design for the course “Distributed Artificial Intelligence”, an optional undergraduate course of the Computer Engineering degree. Specifically, we focused on reinforcing subjects related to Multi-Agent Systems (MAS) by means of fun hands-on activities to experiment theoretical concepts in practice. A first iteration of the design was deployed during two consecutive academic years, with good results in terms of students’ perceived learning, engagement and commitment during the class. Nevertheless, a posterior analysis of the design showed that the proposed mechanics did not consider some types of players - such as disruptors -, and some of the learning profiles - such as theoretical and reflexive -. Then, we proposed a card-based game to redesign the learning experience, using a LEarner-centered GAmification Design Framework (LEGA) that aligns both educational and gamification approaches. This paper focuses on this second iteration of the design, which has been deployed and evaluated during the last semester. The obtained results show that students liked the card game, were engaged and motivated during the gamified class, as well as they perceived an increased learning in the subject.http://ocs.editorial.upv.es/index.php/HEAD/HEAD18Baldeón, J.; Rodríguez, I.; Puig, A.; Lopez-Sanchez, M. (2018). Iterative Design of a Gamified Course in High Education: deployment and evaluation. Editorial Universitat Politècnica de València. 1521-1529. https://doi.org/10.4995/HEAD18.2018.8241OCS1521152

Structural basis for activation of trimeric Gi proteins by multiple growth factor receptors via GIV/Girdin.

A long-standing issue in the field of signal transduction is to understand the cross-talk between receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs) and heterotrimeric G proteins, two major and distinct signaling hubs that control eukaryotic cell behavior. Although stimulation of many RTKs leads to activation of trimeric G proteins, the molecular mechanisms behind this phenomenon remain elusive. We discovered a unifying mechanism that allows GIV/Girdin, a bona fide metastasis-related protein and a guanine-nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) for Gαi, to serve as a direct platform for multiple RTKs to activate Gαi proteins. Using a combination of homology modeling, protein-protein interaction, and kinase assays, we demonstrate that a stretch of ∼110 amino acids within GIV C-terminus displays structural plasticity that allows folding into a SH2-like domain in the presence of phosphotyrosine ligands. Using protein-protein interaction assays, we demonstrated that both SH2 and GEF domains of GIV are required for the formation of a ligand-activated ternary complex between GIV, Gαi, and growth factor receptors and for activation of Gαi after growth factor stimulation. Expression of a SH2-deficient GIV mutant (Arg 1745→Leu) that cannot bind RTKs impaired all previously demonstrated functions of GIV-Akt enhancement, actin remodeling, and cell migration. The mechanistic and structural insights gained here shed light on the long-standing questions surrounding RTK/G protein cross-talk, set a novel paradigm, and characterize a unique pharmacological target for uncoupling GIV-dependent signaling downstream of multiple oncogenic RTKs

Activation of G proteins by GIV-GEF is a pivot point for insulin resistance and sensitivity.

Insulin resistance (IR) is a metabolic disorder characterized by impaired insulin signaling and cellular glucose uptake. The current paradigm for insulin signaling centers upon the insulin receptor (InsR) and its substrate IRS1; the latter is believed to be the sole conduit for postreceptor signaling. Here we challenge that paradigm and show that GIV/Girdin, a guanidine exchange factor (GEF) for the trimeric G protein Gαi, is another major hierarchical conduit for the metabolic insulin response. By virtue of its ability to directly bind InsR, IRS1, and phosphoinositide 3-kinase, GIV serves as a key hub in the immediate postreceptor level, which coordinately enhances the metabolic insulin response and glucose uptake in myotubes via its GEF function. Site-directed mutagenesis or phosphoinhibition of GIV-GEF by the fatty acid/protein kinase C-theta pathway triggers IR. Insulin sensitizers reverse phosphoinhibition of GIV and reinstate insulin sensitivity. We also provide evidence for such reversible regulation of GIV-GEF in skeletal muscles from patients with IR. Thus GIV is an essential upstream component that couples InsR to G-protein signaling to enhance the metabolic insulin response, and impairment of such coupling triggers IR. We also provide evidence that GIV-GEF serves as therapeutic target for exogenous manipulation of physiological insulin response and reversal of IR in skeletal muscles

Funcionamiento familiar, personalidad y satisfacción vital en parejas casadas.

Los estudios sobre las parejas casadas señalan que las características de personalidad de cada uno de los cónyuges, están relacionadas con la satisfacción en la pareja. Las investigaciones indican que Neuroticismo, Amabilidad y Responsabilidad son los factores de personalidad relacionados con la satisfacción matrimonial, que a su vez promueve la satisfacción vital de los cónyuges en general. Con respecto al funcionamiento familiar, la dimensión de cohesión familiar, definida como vínculos afectivos entre los miembros de la familia, ha sido iden- tificada como variable predictora del bienestar subjetivo. Las investigaciones específicas sobre la influencia que tienen los rasgos de personalidad de las parejas casadas sobre el funcionamiento familiar y marital son escasas. Tampoco existen resultados concluyentes sobre las diferencias de género, y la importancia de personalidades similares vs. diferentes como predictores de la satisfacción en la pareja. El objetivo del estudio es identificar la influencia de las características de personalidad y del funcionamiento familiar sobre la satisfacción con la vida en las relaciones de pareja, así como especificar las diferencias de género. Los participantes fueron 187 parejas casadas (N=374) con edades comprendidas entre los 27 y 54 años que complementaron el 'Big Five Inventory' (BFI-10), la Escala de la Cohesión y Adaptabilidad Familiar (CAF) y la Escala de Satisfacción con la Vida (SWLS). Se realizaron pruebas t de Student para muestras relacionadas, análisis de varianzas, correlaciones bivariadas de Pearson y análisis de regresión lineal múltiple. Los resultados indican que existen asociaciones significativas entre personalidad, funcionamiento familiar y satisfacción con patrones diferentes para mujeres y hombres. Así como que existen diferencias de género en la predicción de la variable satisfacción. Concluimos que las parejas se parecen entre sí a nivel psicológico, pero la relación entre las variables evaluadas tiene una mayor relevancia para las mujeres que para sus marido