Multimodalidad, Lenguaje y Aprendizajes1

En este ensayo se aborda el tema de las relaciones entre nuevas formas de representar la información (textos multimodales), lenguaje y aprendizaje. Se propone pluralizar el concepto de lecto-escritura o alfabetización con el fin de incorporar otras competencias necesarias para la comprensión de discursos multimodales. Postulamos que la investigación de nuevos formatos de presentación de la información y de comunicación requieren de modelos semióticos, interactivos y constructivistas que permitan dar cuenta de cómo se puede incorporar la multimodalidad en los procesos de aprendizaje

Has the science of mindfulness lost its mind?

The excitement about the application of mindfulness meditation in mental health settings has led to the proliferation of a literature pervaded by a lack of conceptual and methodological self-criticism. In this article we raise two major concerns. First, we consider the range of individual differences within the experience of meditation; although some people may benefit from its practice, others will not be affected in any substantive way, and a number of individuals may suffer moderate to serious adverse effects. Second, we address the insufficient or inconclusive evidence for its benefits, particularly when mindfulness-based interventions are compared with other activities or treatments. We end with suggestions on how to improve the quality of research into mindfulness interventions and outline key issues for clinicians considering referring patients for these interventions

Transcriptomic and ChIP-sequence interrogation of EGFR signaling in HER2+ breast cancer cells reveals a dynamic chromatin landscape and S100 genes as targets.

BACKGROUND:The Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor (EGFR/HER1) can be activated by several ligands including Transforming Growth Factor alpha (TGF-α) and Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF). Following ligand binding, EGFR heterodimerizes with other HER family members, such as HER2 (human epidermal growth factor receptor-2). Previously, we showed that the EGFR is upregulated in trastuzumab resistant HER2 positive (HER2+) breast cancer cells. This study is aimed to determine the downstream effects on transcription following EGFR upregulation in HER2+ breast cancer cells. METHODS:RNA-sequence and ChIP-sequence for H3K18ac and H3K27ac (Histone H3 lysine K18 and K27 acetylation) were conducted following an Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF) treatment time course in HER2+ breast cancer cells, SKBR3. The levels of several proteins of interest were confirmed by western blot analysis. The cellular localization of proteins of interest was examined using biochemically fractionated lysates followed by western blot analysis. RESULTS:Over the course of 24 h, EGFR stimulation resulted in the modulation of over 4000 transcripts. Moreover, our data demonstrates that EGFR/HER2 signaling regulates the epigenome, with global H3K18ac and H3K27ac oscillating as a function of time following EGF treatment. RNA-sequence data demonstrates the activation of immediate early genes (IEGs) and delayed early genes (DEGs) within 1 h of EGF treatment. More importantly, we have identified members of the S100 (S100 Calcium Binding Protein) gene family as likely direct targets of EGFR signaling as H3K18ac, H3K27ac and pol2 (RNA polymerase II) increase near the transcription start sites of some of these genes. CONCLUSIONS:Our data suggests that S100 proteins, which act as Ca2+ sensors, could play a role in EGF induced tumor cell growth and metastasis, contribute to trastuzumab resistance and cell migration and that they are likely drug targets in HER2+ breast cancer

A new late-surviving early diverging Ibero-Armorican duck-billed dinosaur and the role of the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago in hadrosauroid biogeography

The anatomy and phylogenetic systematics of a well preserved hadrosauroid dentary collected in the 1990s from uppermost Maastrichtian strata (within chron C29r) of the Figuerola Formation, in the Àger syncline of the southern Pyrenees in northeastern Spain are revised. The specimen represents a new genus and species of basally branching hadrosauroid dinosaur, Fylax thyrakolasus gen. et sp. nov. This taxon is the third hadrosaurid outgroup species erected in Europe so far and the stratigraphically youngest non-hadrosaurid hadrosauroid known to date. It is diagnosed on the basis of a unique combination of characters such as a dorsal region of the coronoid process that is at least as wide anteroposteriorly as 30% of dental battery length, a coronoid process inclined anteriorly less than 80º relative to the alveolar margin of the dentary, steeply inclined and flat occlusal surface of the dental battery, and dentary tooth crowns 2.8-3.3 times taller than wide without marginal denticles and with a pair of major long ridges on the enameled lingual surface. The parsimony analysis confirmed that F. thyrakolasus gen. et sp. nov. is a close outgroup to Hadrosauridae. However, we also found that it is sister to the hadrosauroid Tethyshadros insularis form the late Campanian-early Maastrichtian Adriatic-Dinaric Carbonate Platform (present-day Italy). Maximum likelihood reconstruction of ancestral areas on the time calibrated phylogeny revealed that the ancestry of the Fylax-Tethyshadros clade has Appalachian roots. This study supports an Asian origin for hadrosauroids and subsequent dispersal to Appalachia, where Hadrosauridae likely originated. In this scenario, the Late Cretaceous European Archipelago could have facilitated the dispersal of hadrosaurid outgroups from Asia to Appalachia