Development of online activities to support PGCE students’ academic writing

This article outlines a collaboration between the Foundation Centre and the Education PGCE department at Durham University to support student teachers on a particular academic writing assignment (the Self Directed Study assignment). This project involved designing online academic writing activities tailored especially to the assignment. These activities made use of excerpts of exemplar student writing as well as the FOCUS corpus, a Foundation Centre initiated database of “good” (2:1 or First) Durham University student writing. The article outlines the challenges for the students with this particular assignment, details of the collaboration, student feedback from the first roll out of the activities as well as future steps in this ongoing project

Fundamentos de la Tecnología Educativa

The objective of this essay is to manifest the emergence and distribution of educational technology from a historical perspective, founded on the foundations of its evolution. For this, it was necessary to examine the term related technology with a series of events that influenced its conception and application in the educational field. Epistemological bases were studied from two horizons, pedagogical discipline and didactic tool, which considered to reflect other elements such as the pedagogical model and learning theory. Observing a technological-educational rethinking, oriented to an orderly process that involves the pedagogical design as a component of success.El objetivo de este ensayo es manifestar el surgimiento y distribución de la tecnología educativa desde una perspectiva histórica, fundada en los cimientos de su evolución. Para ello, fue necesario examinar el término tecnología afín con una serie de sucesos que influyeron en su concepción y aplicación en el ámbito educativo. Se estudiaron las bases epistemológicas desde dos horizontes, disciplina pedagógica y herramienta didáctica, lo que consideró reflexionar otros elementos como el modelo pedagógico y la teoría de aprendizaje. Observando un replanteamiento tecnológico-educativo, orientada a un proceso ordenado que envuelve como componente de éxito el diseño pedagógico

Sociedad de la Información

Humanity has gone through different technological revolutions, which have great features have gone from agricultural and artisanal, to industrial, post-industrial and information or knowledge, which is where we do not find today. We are living the deepest technological revolution in the history of mankind.La humanidad ha pasado por diferentes revoluciones tecnológicas, que ha grandes rasgos han ido desde la agrícola y artesanal, a la industrial, postindustrial y de la información o del conocimiento, que es en la que no encontramos en la actualidad. Estamos viviendo la más profunda revolución tecnológica de la historia de la humanidad

A Z2\mathbb{Z}_{2}-Topological Index for Free-Fermion Systems in Disordered Media

We use infinite dimensional self--dual $\mathrm{CAR}$ $C^{*}$-algebras to study a $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$-index, which classifies free--fermion systems embedded on $\mathbb{Z}^{d}$-index disordered lattices. Combes-Thomas estimates are pivotal to show that the $\mathbb{Z}_{2}$-index is uniform with respect to the size of the system. We additionally deal with the set of ground states to completely describe the mathematical structure of the underlying system. Furthermore, the weak$^{*}$--topology of the set of linear functionals is used to analyze paths connecting different sets of ground states.Comment: 38 pages, typos corrected, references adde

Microvesicles from indoxyl sulfate-treated endothelial cells induce vascular calcification in vitro

Vascular calcification (VC), an unpredictable pathophysiological process and critical event in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), is the leading cause of morbi-mortality and disability in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients worldwide. Currently, no diagnostic method is available for identifying patients at risk of VC development; the pathology is detected when the process is irreversible. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) from endothelial cells might promote VC. Therefore, their evaluation and characterization could be useful for designing new diagnostic tools. The aim of the present study is to investigate whether microvesicles (MVs) from endothelial cells damaged by uremic toxin and indoxyl sulfate (IS) could induce calcification in human vascular smooth muscle cells (VMSCs). Besides, we have also analyzed the molecular mechanisms by which these endothelial MVs can promote VC development. Endothelial damage has been evaluated according to the percentage of senescence in endothelial cells, differential microRNAs in endothelial cells, and the amount of MVs released per cell. To identify the role of MVs in VC, VSMCs were treated with MVs from IS-treated endothelial cells. Calcium, inflammatory gene expression, and procalcification mediator levels in VSMCs were determined. IS-treated endothelial cells underwent senescence and exhibited modulated microRNA expression and an increase in the release of MVs. VSMCs exposed to these MVs modulated the expression of pro-inflammatory genes and some mediators involved in calcification progression. MVs produced by IS-treated endothelial cells promoted calcification in VSMCs.Instituto de Salud Carlos IIISociedad Española de NefrologíaUniversidad de AlcaláGrupo SantanderUniversity fo California San Dieg

Prioritizing persons deprived of liberty in global guidelines for tuberculosis preventive treatment

In this Policy Forum piece, Aditya Narayan and colleagues discuss the challenges and opportunities for tuberculosis preventive treatment in carceral settings

Mycobacterium tuberculosis ecology in Venezuela: epidemiologic correlates of common spoligotypes and a large clonal cluster defined by MIRU-VNTR-24

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Tuberculosis remains an endemic public health problem, but the ecology of the TB strains prevalent, and their transmission, can vary by country and by region. We sought to investigate the prevalence of <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>strains in different regions of Venezuela. A previous study identified the most prevalent strains in Venezuela but did not show geographical distribution nor identify clonal genotypes. To better understand local strain ecology, we used spoligotyping to analyze 1298 <it>M. tuberculosis </it>strains isolated in Venezuela from 1997 to 2006, predominantly from two large urban centers and two geographically distinct indigenous areas, and then studied a subgroup with MIRU-VNTR 24 loci.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The distribution of spoligotype families is similar to that previously reported for Venezuela and other South American countries: LAM 53%, T 10%, Haarlem 5%, S 1.9%, X 1.2%, Beijing 0.4%, and EAI 0.2%. The six most common shared types (SIT's 17, 93, 605, 42, 53, 20) accounted for 49% of the isolates and were the most common in almost all regions, but only a minority were clustered by MIRU-VNTR 24. One exception was the third most frequent overall, SIT 605, which is the most common spoligotype in the state of Carabobo but infrequent in other regions. MIRU-VNTR homogeneity suggests it is a clonal group of strains and was named the "Carabobo" genotype. Epidemiologic comparisons showed that patients with SIT 17 were younger and more likely to have had specimens positive for Acid Fast Bacilli on microscopy, and patients with SIT 53 were older and more commonly smear negative. Female TB patients tended to be younger than male patients. Patients from the high incidence, indigenous population in Delta Amacuro state were younger and had a nearly equal male:female distribution.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Six SIT's cause nearly half of the cases of tuberculosis in Venezuela and dominate in nearly all regions. Strains with SIT 17, the most common pattern overall may be more actively transmitted and SIT 53 strains may be less virulent and associated with reactivation of past infections in older patients. In contrast to other common spoligotypes, strains with SIT 605 form a clonal group centered in the state of Carabobo.</p

Caracterización clínicoepidemiológica de pacientes con enfermedades reumáticas de inicio juvenil en Paraguay (2011 – 2015)

Objective: Describe the frequency of juvenile onset rheumatologic inflammatory diseases (JIR ) in level III and IV complexity level hospitals in a quinquennium. Methods: Multicentric, descriptive and retrospective study, using CI E-10 coding of hospitals’ files in Asunción and Central Department. Results: Four hospitalary records were included. 382 patients followed inclusion criteria. Sex ratio (M:F) of the population was 1:1,6, with an average age at captation of 11.6 years (SD±4.5). Kawsaki’s disease group has an average age of 5.4 years (SD±3.7) and patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) were presented with 13.1 years on average (SD±3.9). The 68,6% of patients were found through follow up specialized consults. Idiopathic juvenile arthritis was the most frequently diagnosed disease (n=167 cases, 43,7% of the total), followed by SLE (n=130, 34,0%). Most of the cases (n=290, 75,9%) were patients from (place of birth) Asuncion or Central Department. Conclusion: The spectrum of JIR diseases is broad with variable distribution in each included hospital. This study orients to know the burden of disease from JIR diseases in Paraguay.Objetivo: Describir la frecuencia de las enfermedades reumatológicas inflamatorias de inicio juvenil (RI J) en hospitales de nivel de complejidad III y IV en un quinquenio. Método: Estudio multicéntrico, descriptivo, retrospectivo utilizando códigos CI E-10 de los archivos de hospitales de Asunción y del departamento central. Resultados: Cuatro archivos hospitalarios fueron incluidos. En total 382 pacientes cumplían los criterios de inclusión. El sex ratio (M: F) de la población fue de 1:1.6, edad promedio a la captación de 11.6 años (DE±4.5). El grupo de pacientes con Enfermedad de Kawasaki tenían edad promedio de 5.4 años (± 3.7 DE) y los pacientes con Lupus Eritematoso Sistémico (LES) se presentaron con 13.1 años (± 3.9 DE). El 68,6% de los pacientes fueron captados por consulta especializada de seguimiento. La artritis idiopática juvenil fue la enfermedad RIJ más frecuentemente diagnosticada (n=167 casos, 43,7% del total), seguida por el LES (n=130, 34,0%). La mayoría de los casos (75.9%, n=290) eran pacientes procedentes (al nacimiento) de Asunción o del departamento central. Conclusión: El espectro de las enfermedades RI J es amplio con distribución variable según los hospitales incluidos. Este estudio orienta a conocer la “carga de enfermedad” por enfermedades RI J en Paraguay