CONSTRUYENDO UNA "CULTURA DE LA EVALUACIÓN" EN LA UNIVERSIDAD ARGENTINA : EL PROGRAMADE INCENTIVOS Y LA BIBLIOMETRÍA.

Joaquín Brunner señala que entre 1950 y 1975 se configuran en la región latinoamericana los actuales sistemas nacionales de educación superior; estos refieren en cada país a un numeroso y heterogéneo conjunto de establecimientos llamados universidades. En el marco de la modernización y reforma del Sistema de Educación Superior, varios países de Latinoamérica han implementado diferentes modalidades de evaluación institucional como parte de sus respectivas políticas públicas. En esas evaluaciones, el rendimiento académico de los actores sociales involucrados en los procesos de enseñanza e investigación, es una de las variables más importante. A partir de la década de los setenta, se fueron desarrollando criterios aplicables a nivel internacional para evaluar la productividad en el trabajo científico; estos parámetros surgieron vinculados al caso de la física y se fueron generalizando a todas las áreas de investigación. La crítica fundamental a estos criterios se basa en que los mismos no reconocen las diferentes tradiciones disciplinares, ni las diversas formas de tratamiento de los objetos de estudio, así como de los mecanismos de difusión de los conocimientos y de la vinculación con el medio socio-económico de las disciplinas humanísticas, sociales, naturales, tecnológicas. Se cuestionan los espacios de legitimación de los diferentes conocimientos que se generan en las comunidades científicas: las publicaciones en ingles; la validez de los referatos que inevitablemente nos remite al evento Sokal. Estos criterios y procedimientos de evaluación tienden a una homogeneización, desde las políticas públicas, de realidades, tanto disciplinares como socio políticas, muy diversas. A esta altura no se puede eludir el tema del poder que se debate entre las diferentes comunidades académicas, actitudes muchas veces corporativas que tratan de cubrir la lucha por el acceso a recursos / financiamientos siempre escasos. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo abordar esta problemática tomando como eje el Programa de Incentivos a Docentes - Investigadores implementado por el Ministerio de Educación a través de la Secretaría de Educación Superior, así como el desarrollo de la Bibliometría en nuestro país

Construyendo una "cultura de la evaluación" en la universidad argentina: el Programa de Incentivos y la bibliometría

Joaquín Brunner señala que entre 1950 y 1975 se configuran en la región latinoamericana los actuales sistemas nacionales de educación superior; estos refieren en cada país a un numeroso y heterogéneo conjunto de establecimientos llamados universidades. En el marco de la modernización y reforma del Sistema de Educación Superior, varios países de Latinoamérica han implementado diferentes modalidades de evaluación institucional como parte de sus respectivas políticas públicas. En esas evaluaciones, el rendimiento académico de los actores sociales involucrados en los procesos de enseñanza e investigación, es una de las variables más importante. A partir de la década de los setenta, se fueron desarrollando criterios aplicables a nivel internacional para evaluar la productividad en el trabajo científico; estos parámetros surgieron vinculados al caso de la física y se fueron generalizando a todas las áreas de investigación. La crítica fundamental a estos criterios se basa en que los mismos no reconocen las diferentes tradiciones disciplinares, ni las diversas formas de tratamiento de los objetos de estudio, así como de los mecanismos de difusión de los conocimientos y de la vinculación con el medio socio-económico de las disciplinas humanísticas, sociales, naturales, tecnológicas. Se cuestionan los espacios de legitimación de los diferentes conocimientos que se generan en las comunidades científicas: las publicaciones en ingles; la validez de los referatos que inevitablemente nos remite al evento Sokal. Estos criterios y procedimientos de evaluación tienden a una homogeneización, desde las políticas públicas, de realidades, tanto disciplinares como socio políticas, muy diversas. A esta altura no se puede eludir el tema del poder que se debate entre las diferentes comunidades académicas, actitudes muchas veces corporativas que tratan de cubrir la lucha por el acceso a recursos / financiamientos siempre escasos. El presente trabajo tiene como objetivo abordar esta problemática tomando como eje el Programa de Incentivos a Docentes - Investigadores implementado por el Ministerio de Educación a través de la Secretaría de Educación Superior, así como el desarrollo de la Bibliometría en nuestro país

Automatic Setting Procedure for Exoskeleton-Assisted Overground Gait: Proof of Concept on Stroke Population

Stroke-related locomotor impairments are often associated with abnormal timing and intensity of recruitment of the affected and non-affected lower limb muscles. Restoring the proper lower limbs muscles activation is a key factor to facilitate recovery of gait capacity and performance, and to reduce maladaptive plasticity. Ekso is a wearable powered exoskeleton robot able to support over-ground gait training. The user controls the exoskeleton by triggering each single step during the gait cycle. The fine-tuning of the exoskeleton control system is crucial-it is set according to the residual functional abilities of the patient, and it needs to ensure lower limbs powered gait to be the most physiological as possible. This work focuses on the definition of an automatic calibration procedure able to detect the best Ekso setting for each patient. EMG activity has been recorded from Tibialis Anterior, Soleus, Rectus Femoris, and Semitendinosus muscles in a group of 7 healthy controls and 13 neurological patients. EMG signals have been processed so to obtain muscles activation patterns. The mean muscular activation pattern derived from the controls cohort has been set as reference. The developed automatic calibration procedure requires the patient to perform overground walking trials supported by the exoskeleton while changing parameters setting. The Gait Metric index is calculated for each trial, where the closer the performance is to the normative muscular activation pattern, in terms of both relative amplitude and timing, the higher the Gait Metric index is. The trial with the best Gait Metric index corresponds to the best parameters set. It has to be noted that the automatic computational calibration procedure is based on the same number of overground walking trials, and the same experimental set-up as in the current manual calibration procedure. The proposed approach allows supporting the rehabilitation team in the setting procedure. It has been demonstrated to be robust, and to be in agreement with the current gold standard (i.e., manual calibration performed by an expert engineer). The use of a graphical user interface is a promising tool for the effective use of an automatic procedure in a clinical context

Non-Decarboxylative Ruthenium-Catalyzed Rearrangement of 4-Alkylidene-isoxazol-5-ones to Pyrazole- and Isoxazole-4-carboxylic Acids

Treatment of 4-(2-hydroaminoalkylidenyl)- and 4-(2-hydroxyalkylidenyl)-substituted isoxazol-5(4H)-ones with catalytic amounts of [RuCl2(p-cymene)]2, without any additive, afforded pyrazole- and isoxazole-4-carboxylic acids, respectively. The presence of an intramolecular H-bond in these substrates was the key to divert the classical mechanism toward a ring-opening non-decarboxylative path that is expected to generate a vinyl Ru-nitrenoid intermediate, the cyclization of which affords the rearranged products. A gram scale protocol demonstrated the synthetic applicability of this transformation

Artificial neural network EMG classifier for functional hand grasp movements prediction

To design and implement an electromyography (EMG)-based controller for a hand robotic assistive device, which is able to classify the user's motion intention before the effective kinematic movement execution

Simultaneous measurements of kinematics and fMRI: compatibility assessment and case report on recovery evaluation of one stroke patient

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Correlating the features of the actual executed movement with the associated cortical activations can enhance the reliability of the functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) data interpretation. This is crucial for longitudinal evaluation of motor recovery in neurological patients and for investigating detailed mutual interactions between activation maps and movement parameters.</p> <p>Therefore, we have explored a new set-up combining fMRI with an optoelectronic motion capture system, which provides a multi-parameter quantification of the performed motor task.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The cameras of the motion system were mounted inside the MR room and passive markers were placed on the subject skin, without any risk or encumbrance. The versatile set-up allows 3-dimensional multi-segment acquisitions including recording of possible mirror movements, and it guarantees a high inter-sessions repeatability.</p> <p>We demonstrated the integrated set-up reliability through compatibility tests. Then, an fMRI block-design protocol combined with kinematic recordings was tested on a healthy volunteer performing finger tapping and ankle dorsal- plantar-flexion. A preliminary assessment of clinical applicability and perspectives was carried out by pre- and post rehabilitation acquisitions on a hemiparetic patient performing ankle dorsal- plantar-flexion. For all sessions, the proposed method integrating kinematic data into the model design was compared with the standard analysis.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Phantom acquisitions demonstrated the not-compromised image quality. Healthy subject sessions showed the protocols feasibility and the model reliability with the kinematic regressor. The patient results showed that brain activation maps were more consistent when the images analysis included in the regression model, besides the stimuli, the kinematic regressor quantifying the actual executed movement (movement timing and amplitude), proving a significant model improvement. Moreover, concerning motor recovery evaluation, after one rehabilitation month, a greater cortical area was activated during exercise, in contrast to the usual focalization associated with functional recovery. Indeed, the availability of kinematics data allows to correlate this wider area with a higher frequency and a larger amplitude of movement.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The kinematic acquisitions resulted to be reliable and versatile to enrich the fMRI images information and therefore the evaluation of motor recovery in neurological patients where large differences between required and performed motion can be expected.</p

The Neural Correlates of Long-Term Carryover following Functional Electrical Stimulation for Stroke

Neurorehabilitation effective delivery for stroke is likely to be improved by establishing a mechanistic understanding of how to enhance adaptive plasticity. Functional electrical stimulation is effective at reducing poststroke foot drop; in some patients, the effect persists after therapy has finished with an unknown mechanism. We used fMRI to examine neural correlates of functional electrical stimulation key elements, volitional intent to move and concurrent stimulation, in a group of chronic stroke patients receiving functional electrical stimulation for foot-drop correction. Patients exhibited task-related activation in a complex network, sharing bilateral sensorimotor and supplementary motor activation with age-matched controls. We observed consistent separation of patients with and without carryover effect on the basis of brain responses. Patients who experienced the carryover effect had responses in supplementary motor area that correspond to healthy controls; the interaction between experimental factors in contralateral angular gyrus was seen only in those without carryover. We suggest that the functional electrical stimulation carryover mechanism of action is based on movement prediction and sense of agency/body ownership-the ability of a patient to plan the movement and to perceive the stimulation as a part of his/her own control loop is important for carryover effect to take place

PROGNOSTIC IMPACT OF IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL P53 EXPRESSION IN BONE MARROW BIOPSY IN HIGHER RISK MDS: A PILOT STUDY

Background and objectives: Mutations of the TP53 gene have an unfavorable prognosis in Myelodysplastic Syndromes (MDS). The product of the TP53gene is the p53 protein. Most of TP53mutations entail the accumulation of the protein in the nucleus of tumor cells. The immunohistochemical (IHC) staining for p53 can be a surrogate suggesting a mutational status and, if overexpressed, seems to be of prognostic value by itself. The best prognostic cut-off value of overexpression is controversial. The aim of this pilot study is to investigate about the correct value from a homogenous group of patients with higher IPSS-R risk MDS. Methods: In sixty consecutive patients diagnosed with MDS and categorized as IPSS-R risk “intermediate”, “high” and “very high”, the bone marrow biopsies performed at the diagnosis were retrospectively re-examined for IHC p53 expression. The result of p53 expression was subsequently related to survival.  Results: A worst overall survival was observed both in patients whose IHC p53 expression was ≥5% and ≥ 10% compared to the patients with a p53 expression respectively below 5% (p= 0.0063) or 10% (p=0.0038).  Conclusions: The ICH p53 expression in bone marrow biopsy in higher risk MDS was confirmed to have prognostic value.  These results indicate more than 10% expression as the best cut off value

Re-thinking the role of motor cortex: Context-sensitive motor outputs?

The standard account of motor control considers descending outputs from primary motor cortex (M1) as motor commands and efference copy. This account has been challenged recently by an alternative formulation in terms of active inference: M1 is considered as part of a sensorimotor hierarchy providing top-down proprioceptive predictions. The key difference between these accounts is that predictions are sensitive to the current proprioceptive context, whereas efference copy is not. Using functional electric stimulation to experimentally manipulate proprioception during voluntary movement in healthy human subjects, we assessed the evidence for context sensitive output from M1. Dynamic causal modeling of functional magnetic resonance imaging responses showed that FES altered proprioception increased the influence of M1 on primary somatosensory cortex (S1). These results disambiguate competing accounts of motor control, provide some insight into the synaptic mechanisms of sensory attenuation and may speak to potential mechanisms of action of FES in promoting motor learning in neurorehabilitation

Growing old with antiretroviral therapy or elderly people in antiretroviral therapy: two different profiles of comorbidity?

Background In persons living with HIV (PLWH), the burden of non-communicable chronic diseases increased over time, because of aging associated with chronic inflammation, systemic immune activation, and long-term exposure to the combination antiretroviral therapy (ART). Methods To explore the association of chronological age, age at first ART, and exposure to ART with non-communicable chronic diseases, we performed a cross-sectional analysis to evaluate the prevalence of comorbidities in patients enrolled in the SCOLTA Project, stratified by groups of chronological age (50-59 and 60-69 years) and by years of antiretroviral treatment (ART, &lt;= 3 or &gt; 3 years). Results In 1394 subjects (23.8% women), mean age at enrollment was 57.4 (SD 6.5) years, and at first ART 45.3 (SD 10.7). Men were older than women both at enrollment (57.6 vs 56.8, p = 0.06) and at first ART (45.8 vs 43.6, p = 0.0009). ART duration was longer in women (13.1 vs 11.7 years, p = 0.01). The age- and sex-adjusted rate ratios (aRRs, and 95% confidence interval, CI) showed that longer ART exposure was associated with dyslipidemia (aRR 1.35, 95% CI 1.20-1.52), hypertension (aRR 1.52, 95% CI 1.22-1.89), liver disease (aRR 1.78, 95% CI 1.32-2.41), osteopenia/osteoporosis (aRR 2.88, 95% CI 1.65-5.03) and multimorbidity (aRR 1.36, 95% CI 1.21-1.54). These findings were confirmed in strata of age, adjusting for sex. Conclusions Our data suggest that longer ART exposure was associated with increased risk of dyslipidemia, hypertension, and osteopenia/osteoporosis, hence the presence of multimorbidity, possibly due to the exposition to more toxic antiretrovirals. We observed different comorbidities, according to ART exposure and age